GIFFORDS CIRCUS: LAGUNA BAY

Chiswick House and Gardens

★★★★★

“The drizzle is still hanging in the air, but the sunshine created by this extraordinary circus show is still blazing in our hearts”

Giffords Circus is as old as the Millennium. Which makes it sound old, until you remember that this millennium is actually quite young. Still, young or old, the circus – founded in 2000 by Nell and Toti Gifford – has become part of our heritage as it tours the Cotswolds and Southern England each summer, come rain or come shine (this is England – so more often the former). For its twenty-fifth anniversary director Cal McCrystal, who has been with Giffords since 2012, has avoided the fireworks and grand gestures of a landmark celebration, and instead opted for ‘business as usual’. That business being jaw-dropping acts combined with chaotic humour and dazzling live music. Like every other year, the circus adopts a theme. This year we are swept back to the buoyant, sun-soaked era of 1950’s America with “Laguna Bay”. A world that shimmers with promise and optimism. Black clouds may be hovering over West London but under the big top the sun is beating its heart out.

And Tweedy is back. The clown went AWOL last year but now he’s back with a vengeance. It could almost be dubbed ‘The Tweedy Show’ as he bombs, hijacks, infiltrates, interrupts and hilariously joins in most of the routines (important note: do not try this yourself – despite the anarchic appearance it has of course been meticulously rehearsed down to the tiniest tee). Tweedy plays the role of the bellboy at Sal’s Motel with his trademark slapstick and irreverence, but he rapidly sheds the restraints of his character (and his costume) before mounting his mutiny on the management. The kids love him; the adults love him more.

More so than previous years, the show has a real ensemble, almost family, feel. When not displaying their breathtaking skills, the performers are singing, acting and joining in the party in numerous other guises. Bandleader Mikey Fletcher mingles with the acrobats while lead singer Nell O’Hara is literally swept off her feet, up to the top of the big top, while still belting out pitch-perfect melodies. All the while the live band, the wonderful ‘Semi-tones’, are underscoring and overscoring the action with the feelgood, fifties soundtrack of the West Coast; as though The Beachboys have wandered onto the set of ‘That’ll be the Day’.

McCrystal has brought together the customary matchless cast. A mix of new faces and past masters, but each styling their performance to fit the concept of the show. Pablo and Vikki Garcia circle the tent in their American Airforce monoplane, shedding the laws of gravity (and shedding underwear!) while putting out an engine fire, and hanging from the undercarriage by the skin of their teeth (and that is not a metaphor). Both hilarious and heart-stopping. Their two sons Antonio and Connor – aka the Garcia Brothers – astound with their handstands, redefining the body’s centre of gravity and reinventing the body’s abilities. Daniela and Noémi make our hair stand on end while they use theirs to hang from the rafters, and spin, float and dance in the air with perfect synchronisation. Up there too is Randy Forgione with his remarkable strap act. But down on the ground the Ethio-Salem Troupe boggle our minds with, first their juggling, and then later their hoop diving act. Emma Tytherleigh brings a few moments of relative serenity with her four-legged friends; the loveable ponies and her dancing dog, Cowboy. It is all quite magical. And, of course, a touch of real magic is thrown into the mix by Maxi, whose personality plays tricks on our hearts while his conjuring plays with our minds. At one point he (how does he do it?) makes Tweedy disappear.

But there is no holding Tweedy back. He returns. And returns. The Rivelinos (clown duo Dany and Sito) are often by his side, not so much comic sidekicks as the ones kicking him into shape. The show culminates in a full-on ice cream fight – a dream for the audience but a nightmare for the stage managers. The entire troupe follow this with song and dance and a bit more mayhem. The audience are pulled into the ring. All of a sudden, the performers have disappeared, but the crowd continues to bop-a-long to the hop. As the lights fade, we wander back into the night. The drizzle is still hanging in the air, but the sunshine created by this extraordinary circus show is still blazing in our hearts. Giffords Circus lets us step into another world and forget everyday life with its mix of thrills and skills, romance, comedy, magic and mayhem. Glorious escapism at its best.

GIFFORDS CIRCUS: LAGUNA BAY

Chiswick House and Gardens then tour continues – click on Giffords logo below for dates and venues

Reviewed on 5th June 2024

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Spencer McPherson

Previously reviewed at this venue:

GIFFORDS CIRCUS – AVALON | ★★★★ | June 2024

GIFFORDS CIRCUS – THE HOOLEY | ★★★★★ | June 2021

LAGUNA BAY

★★★★

“We are fascinated by what Lucas has to say, but it’s the music that truly speaks for itself”

As we sit round an upright piano, we are given an in-depth analysis of the aftereffects of striking a piano key. How the slim slab of ivory trips a lever which brings a soft felt-lined hammer onto a metal string, which, in turn, causes the air to vibrate eventually spreading across the room and filling each of us with the same vibration that we call music. We are inextricably linked and reeled in by the unifying hook that transfixes us. Anoushka Lucas is the one telling us all this, although she doesn’t need this allegory to catch, and to hold, our attention. She is a natural-born raconteur, with a charismatic flair to match.

“Elephant” is written, composed and performed by Lucas. We suspect that there are veiled, autobiographical elements hidden within her monologue, but she is telling us Lylah’s story who, at the age of seven, watched a group of workmen rip out the windows of her family’s council flat to lower a piano into their living room. From then on it dominated her small living space, her life and her love affair with music began. This love of music drives the narrative, but it is fuelled by various pivotal moments in Lylah’s life that shape her identity as a mixed-race, working-class girl who dares to be different. Who dares to cross the class divide. Who dares to defy the white, misogynistic expectations that music executives have for her career. Who dares to challenge the innate and unearned privilege of colonialist descendants.

Lylah is continually drawn back to the piano. Sitting centre stage, slowly revolving as Lucas plays and sings. Entirely acoustic and without the aid of technological trickery her singing is intimate, rich and mellow. The piano is an extension of Lylah but when a song ends, we are back in the narrative and the piano becomes the elephant in the room. Lylah’s piano has ivory keys, and she has a hard time reconciling the beauty of her instrument with the cruelty that went into its construction. The brutal tearing out of the tusks from the elephant’s face, the use of enslaved people to transport the tusk. Lucas is able to revisit this theme with ease without hammering the point. Jess Edwards’ supple direction is sensitive to the crescendos and diminuendos of Lylah’s story; each element played as part of a rhapsody. A sharp piano note heralds a twist in the tale while Laura Howards lighting shifts through shades to illuminate the various phases of her life. We learn a lot about Lylah’s childhood – Lucas is expert at seeing the world through a child’s eyes, and then retaining that unfiltered honesty, bringing it with her into adulthood. Love comes in the form of Leo, a session drummer, who invites her to his family cottage. The ’cottage’ is, in fact, a nine-bedroom country manor, furnished with the trappings of the Empire. Including a mahogany grand piano. Lylah cannot prevent herself addressing the ‘elephant in the room’ – literal and symbolic – and the anger that pours out is heartfelt and human without being sanctimonious or political.

We then return to the music. Then back to another episode of life. But always back to the music. Sometimes the musical interludes are brief, and the show could perhaps do with more performance and less talk. The show is bookended by the observation that the black and the white keys on a piano are disproportionately balanced. It is an interesting analogy at the beginning, but we don’t need it repeated. Lucas has shown us that music is blind to this distinction. We are fascinated by what Lucas has to say, but it’s the music that truly speaks for itself.

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GIFFORDS CIRCUS: LAGUNA BAY

★★★★★

UK Tour

GIFFORDS CIRCUS: LAGUNA BAY

Chiswick House and Gardens

★★★★★

“The drizzle is still hanging in the air, but the sunshine created by this extraordinary circus show is still blazing in our hearts”

GIFFORDS CIRCUS: LAGUNA BAY