“You have to come, the kids will love it!” we cried to our friends J and B. “It’s back after a year off so you don’t want to miss it!” we said, grabbing them by the lapels.
If the Ringling Bros Circus was billed as “the greatest show on earth” Giffords Circus claims the title in a much larger arena. This intimate, independent circus has deliciously intricate costumes, a glamorous tight-rope walker, handsome horses, clown acts that are actually funny and a community spirit. It’s magical in a way that would make Walt Disney turn green.
In a small tent, set up in a field in the Cotswolds countryside, you feel the immediacy of the daring acts on display. The performers stand just a few feet away performing acrobatics and feats of skill, singing, dancing and entertaining the pants off the rows of adults, children and even teens (teens!) in the audience.
We’ve gone to the circus for the past 4 years, excluding last year’s hiatus, and as the ringmaster announces the show and the performers stream in to do an opening song and dance, I have gotten literally choked up with excitement in a way I last experienced as a child. We’ve seen loose-rope walkers (who knew of such a thing?), a troupe of family acrobats (mum, dad and the kids), Cossack trick riders, and an act that consisted of a man doing flips and tricks on a bendy board held on the shoulders of two other men.
This year, the highlight for me was charismatic jugglers Bibi and Bichu, seemingly levitating innumerable pins while cheekily working the crowd. For my friend B it was the live band playing everything from stand-up bass to plastic bottles – including the bit where one musician made music with her feet, tap dancing on cymbals in the ring. For B’s son, the chicken running round the ring was a delight. My daughter loved the clown Gabor Vosteens playing first one, then two, then five recorders at once. My husband was amazed by the unicyclist who caught bowls, a teacup and a spoon on her head, while atop a ball.
At the centre of the circus is the inspiring Nell Gifford, its creator and the woman who develops each season’s theme – this year it is based around the story of a young girl who loves to train horses. Nell is a horsewoman herself. She founded the circus and runs it with her husband Toti. She also designs the gorgeous, retro costumes – snazzy, sexy outfits from a bygone era for the women, costumes for the men that range from imperial to tribal. One number this included an astonishing array of animal heads – very surreal, very French.
Giffords Circus is artistic, it’s creative, it’s amazing. If your children can stay up that late, go to the 19:30 performance and eat at the Circus Sauce restaurant afterward. In a tent just beside the big tent, the circus staff dish up delicious food family-style. Forty-two of us had fresh salad and bread, scrumptious chicken pie and a fresh berry pavlova, all cooked in the adjoining caravan (BYOB) while the children practiced their own “circus” on the grass outside and spied on the performers relaxing after the show.
The troupe travels around the Cotswolds in stylish caravans and this year it has two new recruits – Nell’s six-month-old twins. We haven’t yet seen the babies but I can just imagine the magical upbringing they’ll have. Although it does beg a question, if your mother has already run away and joined the circus, what do you do to rebel?
Tickets: £18 adults, £12 children www.everymantheatre.org.uk
Circus Sauce restaurant (booking essential): £25 adults, £12.50 children. Bookings: 0845 459 7469
More on Giffords Circus:
- Bambino Goodies has posted about Giffords and will be reviewing it. See what some comments Giffords fans have left already
- Read about Nell in a short Telegraph interview
