At flea circus, a little faith for a world of small wonders
Suspending disbelief keeps the circus hopping at Puppets Up!
Adults in the audience get the delight of the con (but) for the really little kids, the fleas are real. Then there’s an age just before their teens where they’re not sure but they play along. —
Eric Woolfe
Can something that’s not real exist? It can if you’re young enough, imaginative enough or if your name is Buster Canfield. Buster is the gregarious fellow who, reportedly born in Port Hope, Ont., in the late 1800s, has forged a reputation as the impresario of an awesome flea circus.
The fleas, as well-trained ones are wont to do, perform all kinds of marvellous tricks including standing on the head of a pin. They and Buster are the creation of Toronto-based Eric Woolfe who brings his show Buster Canfield and his Amazing Fleas to Puppets Up! International Puppet Festival in Almonte Aug. 7-9.
Thing is (spoiler alert: children, stop reading now!), the fleas don’t exist.
But reality is no match for magic, masks and puppetry, not to mention fertile young imaginations, according to Woolfe, artistic director of Eldritch Theatre/ Pocket Carnival Productions.
“The adults in the audience get the delight of the con (but) for the really little kids, the fleas are real. Then there’s an age just before their teens where they’re not sure but they play along anyway.”
The pint-sized performers have little costumes, their own personalities and names. They include Finnegan who’s making his stage debut. The youngest member of the troupe, he’s a little shy, troubled by a touch of stage fright: a flea, it seems, to whom we can all relate.
Finnegan and company are the latest in the long if dubious history of flea circuses.
The tradition, which included live “educated” fleas attached to tiny carts and even ferris wheels as well as imaginary performers, stretches back at least as far as the early 1800s and was a popular carnival and resort attraction through the first part of the 20th century (it’s worth remembering that fleas, in the era preceding insecticides and modern hygiene, were a more common part of everyday life than they now are). YouTube includes flea circus footage, some of it with more than a touch of tongue-incheek.
Famous flea circus impresarios included Louis Bertolotto who, during the Victorian period, toured his Extraordinary Exhibition of the Industrious Fleas through London, the U.S. and Canada. According to the website fleacircus.co.uk, Bertolotto’s show was referenced more than once by Charles Dickens, and the impresario may have eventually settled in Port Hope. He appears in Buster Canfield and his Amazing Fleas.
“Everyone writes fleas off, but there are different species of fleas just like there are different species of politicians,” says Woolfe. “I think the species we see on animals are justly maligned, but not all fleas are created equal.”
As to Buster, Woolfe describes him as a 1930s carny type: “Quick-talking, charming, perhaps a bit sneaky, but a lovely guy all the same.”
Buster Canfield and his Amazing Fleas differs from Woolfe’s usual work. The playwright, actor and puppeteer is best known for his macabre adult and teen puppet works like Madhouse Variations and The Babysitter. He has also worked in film and television including a spot in George A. Romero’s movie Survival of the Dead.
Because his adult shows incorporate puppets and magic that are normally associated with children’s entertainment, parents would show up at them with their youngsters. With two children of his own, Woolfe eventually decided to try his hand at a children’s show, and Buster and his petit pals have been making the rounds to favourable notices for the past couple of years.
The Puppets Up! festival is not just about fleas. This year’s lineup includes Peter and the Wolf by Icelandic master puppeteer Bernd Ogrodnik; Big Nazo: Intergalactic Creature BAND! an irreverent musical from Rhode Island, U.S.A. that features a giant three-eyed robot percussionist, mountain trolls and more; and Animal Adventure about an unusual trip to the zoo by Carp, Ont.’s Rock the Arts.
There’s also street entertainment, puppet workshops and parades on Mill Street.