Review: Circus 1903, Royal Festival Hall, London
Circus 1903
Royal Festival Hall
Southbank Centre, London
19 December 2018-5 January 2019
Running time: 2 hours 20 mins
Tickets: From £25.00 to £99.50 front stalls (gulp!)
2018 has been a celebratory year for circus, marking as it does 250 years since Philip Astley is said to have invented the art form in the UK. The events – marshalled by Dea Birkett’s Circus250 – have been taking place almost continually, the best of them being Chris Barltrop’s portrayal of the man himself in Audacious Mr Astley. For those of us edging towards circus fatigue, just hold on a bit longer because there’s one more production that has burst on to the scene. Circus 1903 joins Circa’s show Wolfgang’s Magical Musical Circus in the capital, which – ha! – tricks kids into listening to Mozart for an hour while being distracted by Kat and Paul O’Keeffe’s wonderful acrobatics.
1903 – from the producers who created The Illusionists, which, incidentally, returns to London for two months next summer – depicts an American circus set in, er, 1903, and its aim is to emulate the golden age of circus, which, as creative producer, Simon Painter, points out, had “dangerous and breathtaking acts and animals at the forefront of the show’. It is bold and brash and has the flavour of that truly dreadful film The Greatest Showman. The whole cast is involved in moves that are closely choreographed to relentless recorded music, which leaves no room for spontaneity or for missed tricks to be attempted again.
The towering set is blue canvas strung with lights, a circus wagon and various other props, with the costumes adding to the effect. Its main gimmick is two War Horse-style African elephants – mother and baby – which do not have the surprise factor that the horses did. Although their movements are really convincing, their appearance is less so. Interestingly, one of the British manipulators is Nyron Levy, who formerly had the most exquisite adagio act himself with Saori Oda. The other puppeteers are Luke Chadwick-Jones, James Donovan, Chris Milford and Jessica Spalis.
Giving all the acts silly names and the men flamboyant period moustaches is not going to satisfy circus historians, who will pale at the inaccuracies, but hey, it’s not aimed at them. This is really a theatre show with circus acts, which is simply meant to entertain not educate, so let’s take it at face value and focus on the artists, which Painter hopes are exotic enough for most people not to have seen them before. They include Serge Huercio’s bicycle act, Mexico’s Lopez family on high wire, and Mikhail Sozonov’s rola-rola balancing, plus Leonardo Louzada, João Siqueira and Vinicius Vasconcelos – who are all from Brazil – on Korean plank, and speed juggler François Borie, who, pleasingly, doesn’t drop a thing.
Russian, or standing, cradle is one of my favourite disciplines, and here it is performed effectively by more Brazilians, catcher Olavo Rocha Muinz and flyer Marcella Collares. There is an unusual ball spinning pair (uncredited) – the woman wearing shoes with Rosa Klebb spikes – who perhaps fill in for the absentee Fratelli Rossi, a Spanish Risley duo. Ethiopian Senayet Asefa Amare is a superb contortionist, running rings around herself with ease.
But the stand-out act is the gorgeous Aleksandra Kiedrowicz from Poland on aerial hoop. She also makes an eye-catching target in Alfredo Silva’s knife-throwing number but now, wearing a flesh-coloured skin suit decorated with sparkles, her display is the most beguiling mix of delicacy, flexibility, elegance and strength.
Everything is held together by the American ringmaster/magician, David Williamson – aka Willy Whipsnade; did I mention silly names? – who veers between avuncular and curmudgeonly granddad and spends far too much time gently taunting some little kids from the audience. But families who can afford the ticket prices with be impressed by the sheer scope of this production and excited by the acts and elephants, and when a young boy gets to slap a custard pie into his dad’s face, we share his joy.
Circus 1903 runs at the Royal Festival Hall at London’s Southbank Centre until 5 January 2019.
Picture credit: Manuel Harlan
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