For theatre... online, non-professional, amateur
Circus 1903

Circus 1903

Circus 1903 company. Photo: Dan Tsantilis


When you assess a show professionally you are supposed to judge it as being decent, weak, good or outstanding for a production of its type. Well I haven’t the faintest idea how to star rate this one since I’ve never seen anything remotely like it before and therefore have nothing to measure it against. This was the first circus I’ve been to since childhood and that was so long ago that I remember plumed horses and roaring lions all of which is now illegal in the UK, thank goodness. I’ve seen occasional circus acts in, say, panto or the piazza at Covent Garden but never the whole caboodle. Well, after much thought I’ve decided it’s a four on the simple grounds that I enjoyed it very much and it includes some stunning performances. I have only a couple of minor reservations of which more shortly.

In a sense Circus 1903 is a play-within-a-play. We’re meant to be in an American touring circus of which there were many (remember Barnum and Bailey The Greatest Show on Earth) in the early 20th Century. The year is 1903 and in the first act they are setting up, rehearsing the show and training the elephants: two life-size puppets by Mervyn Millar and Tracy Waller are a theatrical tour de force. They are beautiful – moving, in every sense – and totally convincing. The second half is more or less a performance, with glitzier costumes, beginning with a parade and ending with a finale.

It’s noteworthy that none of the spectacular acts is British or even American. Most are from South America or Eastern Europe. And they are mind-blowingly, heart-in-mouth good. As I watched them I was forcibly struck that what this work needs is three things: phenomenal trust, bodies trained to behave like iron and decades of practice. The “Daring Desafios”, for instance are a quartet of grinning tattooed young men from Brazil who launch themselves to enormous heights from a teeterboard turning double and triple somersaults in the air. The cheerful camaderie they exude belies the skill of the coordination which is like a very fast four man dance.

We also get Roberto Carlos from Mexico juggling, Natalia Leontieva from Russia doing impossible things with spinning hoops and Olava Rocha Muniz and Denise Torres de Souza, also   Brazilian, in a “Russian Cradle”. The latter involves very daring arial work with nail biting mid air throws. The highest (literally) spot for me was two brothers from Colombia on a “wheel of death. It’s a huge structure like a giant egg timer made from metal tubing and mesh and it’s flown slowly down to stage level. One man in each oval space makes it spin – ever faster as they walk, skip, jump and sometimes climb round the outside of it. The top man standing upright almost has his head in the flies. It’s quite an act.

So all in all a fine show. Recorded music is composed and arranged by Evan Jolly who borrows from all sorts of genres including some traditional circus numbers and some atmospheric classical. It works quite well in the first half but becomes far too loud and relentless in the second. The performances are excellent, Adding that level of noise as an enhancement is almost an insult to the acrobats who don’t need their work psyched up like this.

My other reservation is that I really don’t like squirm-inducing gags involving audience children brought on stage and made to look silly and there’s too much of that in this show although David Williamson as ring master is fairly gentle with them. Even I have to admit, however, that it’s very funny when a child is invited to thrust the traditional plate of shaving foam in her own father’s face and does it with glee.

Hotel Paradiso at Rose Theatre

Hotel Paradiso at Rose Theatre

Photo: Nino Giuffre


Theatre can be a little unpredictable at the moment, and that was certainly the case for leading new circus company Lost in Translation as they prepared to present Hotel Paradiso at the Rose Theatre, Kingston. With only a day to go before the performances, two members of the company were required to self-isolate. Luckily, Hotel Paradiso is not a new piece and exists in a number of different forms which have been developed during its successful exposure at the Edinburgh Fringe and elsewhere.

At the Rose, then, it was the cabaret version of the show (lasting just under an hour) that was presented by the remaining company members. The last-minute changes had little effect as far as the audience was concerned. The motley crew of grandparents, toddlers, family groups and the odd singleton (like your reviewer) greatly enjoyed the performance. It helped that we also felt totally safe in our isolated bubbles around the theatre with the intervening seats blocked off with some very superior Rose-specific sashes – quite the most attractive version of this necessary seat marking I have seen to date.

The show is set in a hotel where the concierge – Serge, of course – welcomes us and introduces the guests, including the wicked banker who has threatened to repossess the hotel. That’s about it as far as the story is concerned (at least in this cabaret version), but it doesn’t really matter as it serves to tie the various acts into a loose narrative held together by a warm and engaging performance from the actor playing Serge.

Serge, it turns out, is not just a concierge but a magician and a very good one too. It was somewhat paradoxical that what I was expecting to be an afternoon of new circus was actually rather more of a magic show interspersed by circus acts, but this was no bad thing as it was Serge who built up the rapport with the audience that soon had them in the palm of his hand. His ability to control the volume and location of applause from the audience brought to mind some of the great circus clowns who used to make a feature of this, and he also has the ability to speak directly to all ages, including some ironic asides for the older people present which landed well.

His magic was well thought-through and made great use of the audience – in a socially-distanced and Covid-compliant way of course. The hotel guests he introduced were three different aerial acts and a hand balancer, all fine performers but perhaps there would have been more variety if there had been some juggling or performing duos: but perhaps that would have been the case without the sudden need for some members of the company to self-isolate.

The hard-working cast of 5 are all to be congratulated, but it was the ever-present Serge who made the whole performance so successful and helped to present all the performers at their best. Let’s hope the full company will soon be back together so that Lost in Translation can once again perform in strength.

-