REVIEW | Giffords Circus ‘LES ENFANTS DU PARADIS’
★ ★ ★ ★.5
Reviewer - Russell
*Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in return for an honest review
The clue is in the title. It’s a circus.
I’ve dodged going to the circus for a number of decades, with as much fervour as I've dodged being eaten alive by sharks, but to my surprise, this really is worth a visit. So, if you’ve got young kids that you want to drag away from their iPhones and Ipads for an afternoon and see some old-fashioned live entertainment, then this is the show for you. Go.
Seriously, I highly recommend it.
The downside is it's nearly two hours long and it's not cheap. But on the other hand, for the fun that most of the kids seem to get from the show, it's probably worth every penny.
There are lots of things to like.
This is a classic circus format with an array of different skills and performances intertwined with some longer set pieces, some acrobats, a clown, four cute ponies, and a bit of a disconnected ‘love story’ in a Disney princess sort of tribute.
There’s a live band and some incredible performers on display.
Everyone involved is technically astonishing and supremely talented and to see such skill and excellence up close really is a thrill.
The highlights of the show are the acrobats and their unbelievable feats of athleticism and their perfectly honed bodies. If you've never seen a man, hanging upside down and walking across a series of looped footropes, thirty feet in the air, without a safety net, to a live rendition of ‘Sugar Baby Love’ by the Rubettes, then you probably haven't lived a full life.
Also, bear this in mind, there can't be any other shows anywhere on the planet that incorporate ‘No More Heroes’ by the Stranglers, ‘I Dreamed A Dream’ by Susan Boyle, and ‘Mighty Real’ by 70’s gay icon Sylvester.
There are all the classic circus tropes, a clown with buckets of water and pretend buckets of water that he throws into the audience, a man on a bike doing ‘shadow-puppets’ a highly technical skill that is dying out and some might say for good reason too, oh and some teeny-tiny likkle ponies that anyone under the age of five utterly adored and all hearts melted every time they kneeled down or ran around in circles. I don't know about you, but I could watch tiny ponies running around and around in circles all night.
I couldn't help but notice the teeny-tiny ponies looked a little sad and I liked to picture them in their ‘green room’ after the show kicking back with a vape and a glass of carrot wine saying stuff like; “this is all well and good but I’ve always dreamed of playing ‘Bottom’ at the Globe darling”. Let’s face it, kids everywhere love cute ponies, and mums and dads everywhere love watching perfectly honed athletes in skimpy costumes, win win. The ponies are the only animals on display and to be fair, they also looked well-homed and well treated, and loved by all around them.
The second half of the show opened with a man playing a large saw with a violin bow, not something you see a lot these days, but it got stronger and stronger as it went along and built to a climax that had the somewhat subdued first half audience cheering and clapping along at every opportunity. The kids and the adults really were lost in the magic of the circus and whooping along and generally having a great time. Again it was the acrobats that stole the show, with their stunning feats of coordination, strength and energy.
Any show that closes with all the performers in the ring dancing and singing along to Plastic Bertand’s 1977 classic ‘Ça plane pour moi’ and then inviting the whipped-into-a-frenzy kids and parents into the ring to sing and dance along with them gets my thumbs up. The kids loved it and I’m sure some younger hearts will be dreaming of circuses for a long time to come.
Hats off to Giffords Circus for an excellent afternoon out, but mostly hats off and congratulations and respect for keeping the tradition alive, in this ever more disinterested era, go see it, they really do deserve your support.
Giffords Circus is at various venues until 1 October 2023, all information is available here.
