Like coming home Circus show full of spirit will make you laugh, gasp and stomp
DRIVING up the hill from Stroud those lights on top of the Big Top felt like coming home. This should’ve been the show I watched last year, but finally Giffords Circus is able to show off the Hooley.
On a day when the county was battered with rain, hail and thunderstorms, it felt apt that this show was opening in a muddy field high above the River Severn, glowing as the sun began to set.
Familiar faces, awkward “sorry I can’t hug you” chat and those Giffords lights shining down set the scene.
Inside the tent, sitting in new seats, with distancing in place and masks on, the anticipation was palpable.
Then Tweedy appeared – without too many spoilers his costume and the famous red hair give off big Drop Dead Fred energy – and Gloucestershire’s favourite clown is still very much the king of physical comedy, although you might need to hold your breath for one stunt as dangerous as it is impressive.
The Hooley, set in a mystical Irish place, albeit one with a troupe of Cuban acrobats, is all about faeries and magic beings.
There are the familiar faces – Nancy Trotter Landry is back, alongside Lil Rice and the graceful Tatiana Ozhiganova as the three faeries trying to escape the mean goblins – and the Giffords fun is all there.
But alongside the pure joy of performers like Andrejs and his doves are more reflective moments – the beauty of Jonny Grundy and Manuel Artino in their hoop, the poignant appearance of the first horse and suddenly you remember Nell Gifford named this show with director Cal Mccrystal with the aim of performing in it herself.
Nell’s death in 2019 came less than a week after the name was revealed and her spirit is very much still part of everything the circus does.
Watching her niece Lil on a horse in the ring felt like a baton being passed.
Oh, and the dancing, the music and the spirit, it is all there, all as it was before this great big Hooley descended on everyone’s lives at the beginning of last year.
You will laugh, gasp, clap loudly and stomp your feet and leave with a smile on your face and that is exactly how it should be.
The Hooley is touring the South West, including: » Sudeley Castle - May 27 to May 31 » Blenheim Palace – June 2 to June 7 » Daylesford Organic Farm – June 10 to June 21
» Minchinhampton Common – August 19 to August 31
» Marlborough Common – September 3 to September 6
» Stratton Meadows, Cirencester – September 9 to September 13
» Fennels Farm, Stroud – September 16 to 26
Tickets are still available to shows and to the Circus Sauce Restaurant. Visit giffordscircus.com for more details.
Oh, and the dancing, the music and the spirit, it is all there, all as it was before this great big Hooley descended on everyone’s lives at the beginning of last year