Review: GIFFORDS CIRCUS: LAGUNA BAY, Chiswick House & Gardens - Tour
Photo credit: Spencer McPherson - Still Moving Media
Circus has changed a great deal since my first visits as a child to see Billy Smart and Chipperfield touring circus with elephants, lions and bareback horse riders and Gifford Circus, now in its 25th year, is perhaps the best of new breed of shows. The extraordinary production values in a heated tent with cushioned benches, a wonderful musical selection played live by a seven-piece band and a themed setting and costumes (designed by Takis and supervised by Sian Clare) sets it apart from the modern-day touring circuses. Yet any circus, ultimately, is only as good as the spectacle of the acts presented and the originality and execution of the clowns. Gifford Circus’ 25th anniversary show is themed as Laguna Bay, a beach resort in America in the fifties and the acts are competent, varied and very well presented but without being thrilling or original. The acts were perhaps not as entertaining as last year’s four star Avalon production.
The tumbling jugglers, Ethio-Salem Troupe, are certainly impressive with six performers and eighteen clubs interchanged in a beautifully choreographed complex routine of precise and innovative club throwing, though less creative in a rather standard hoop tumbling demonstration.
The Duo handstand brothers, Antonio and Connor Garcia, are also very good, appealing to some of the audience with their muscular bare torsos and others with their brilliant balancing, spins and an impressive bow and arrow trick (on the second attempt). Randy Forgione Vega from Spain also provides an impressive show of strength in his aerialist straps routine.
Tweedy the Clown returns to the Circus after a year off on his own small scale tour last year and is clearly an audience favourite with his engaging personality and good physical comedy. His routine dressed as Buttons in pink, erecting a deckchair is amusing and cleverly constructed and his ladder routine is an excellent piece of physical business (if you have never seen it before). He also throws himself wholeheartedly into a large-scale slosh sketch around ice cream with the other clowns, Los Rivelinos. Together with members of the cast, he stages a very old-fashioned comedy synchronised swimming routine that has been done many times before on stage.
The music selection is also very good with enjoyable lively renditions by Nell O’Hara and Mike Fletcher, backed by a warm full sound of the Semitones of ‘Rockin’ Robin’, ‘Sweet Talking Guy’, ‘Blue Moon’, ‘Magic Moments’, ‘Sandman’, ‘Summertime’, ‘A Little Less Conversation’, and ‘Heatwave’, all reflecting the 50s theme and neatly woven into the acts.
However, Maxi’s magic routine and Diablo spinning, Daniela and Noemi hair suspension aerialist act and Emma Tytherleigh’s horse and dog acts are well presented but rather limited and lack breadth despite being well dressed and performed. John Parlo and Vickki Garcia’s Airplane routine spends a lot of time grounded with an emphasis on comedy before it really takes off but builds to big finish with them suspended below the plane.
This is good quality family entertainment. The show, with its high production values, feels like it needs a linking narrative or story thread as without, it is just a very good-looking variety show, the equivalent of old music hall TV show, The Good Old Days, in a tent. We have come to expect modern day circus, like Circus Extreme or Circus Zyair, to include high wire acts, Globe of Death motorbikes or the Wheel of Death, which appear breathtakingly dangerous to watch and while the skill of the Laguna Bay acts is to be admired, the presentation style to be applauded and the music to be enjoyed, we never get that same heightened sense of danger. However, the Chiswick Park audience loved the show. If you have a young family and are looking for a pleasant afternoon’s entertainment in a lovely setting, then we can recommend this show to you.
*** Three stars
Reviewed by: Nick Wayne