The production tours until 28 September
“Who loves ice cream?”
Giffords Circus: Laguna Bay takes audiences and transports them from a 600-seat tent in Chiswick House and Gardens to a beach resort in 1950s America, with sunglasses and leather jackets aplenty. The show, written and directed by Cal McCrystal, heralds the return of Tweedy the Clown, who was absent from last year’s production as he was performing his own solo show, Tweedy’s Massive Solo Show.
Walking into the circus feels like stepping into another world, with a live band playing as audience members wander around the different tents and wagons selling food, drink and merchandise before entering the main tent at the centre of the circus. And, once audience members are in the tent, it feels like they have been transported once more, with designer taking creating a bright and colourful world of beach balls, ice cream and sunshine.
As one might expect from a circus, there are a range of impressive acts, including the Ethio-Salem Troupe (Mentesnot Dereje Hunde, Yosef Gashaw Teshome, Tsegaye Mulatu Yeko, Dawit Bezabh Belete, Mikiyasabeje Chanie and Ermiyas Dejene Mekonen), who start off with juggling and end with some truly incredible hoop diving, Daniel Munoz Landestoy and Vivien Noémi Novakovics performing hair hanging stunts and even some magic from Maximiliano Stia. There are also a few animal performers involved in Laguna Bay, including an adorable Shetland pony, all trained by Emma Tytherleigh. My favourite act was the strap work done by Randy Forgione Vega, who makes everything he does look effortless as he soars through the air.
As proof that being a part of the circus tends to run in the family, there is a couple, Pablo and Vickki Garcia, who perform a slapstick act on a plane hanging from the ceiling, as well as their sons, Antonio and Connor, who show off with some fantastic handstand work. And, of course, keeping with circus traditions, there are clowns, with Tweedy being joined by The Rivelinos as they get up to some mischief, typically keeping the attention of the crowd as the acts prepare to perform. All of the acts are accompanied by a live band, The Semitones, made up of musicians Rob Taylor, Nicholas Hann, James Thomas, Morgan Pugh, David Mereedith, Joe Pickering and Sofía Kherroubi with Nell O’Hara and Mikey Fletcher providing vocals.
There is a bit of audience participation, with one or two people in particular being brought into the ring at the mercy of Tweedy. If you’re sitting in the first few rows, be careful - there are plenty of moments where you might get splashed with water. I saw one poor audience member get completely soaked, quickly being rushed out of the tent as an “ice cream” fight continued between performers. There are also some jokes for the adults thrown in as well, including one about Tweedy stealing an audience member’s keys but then saying that it’s “not that kind of party,” a joke that received the most laughs from the grown-ups that night.
I preferred the Giffords Circus production last year, Avalon, which was centred around a character wanting to become a Knight of the Round Table. While there are plenty of quirky characters in Laguna Bay with a few throwaway personality traits, there is nothing that really ties them together, with the exception of a very brief romance that lasts for one act and is then quickly dropped. Laguna Bay also has a silly bit of the “Ringtones” (Edwin Forster, George McAllister, Darryl Hughes and Rafiq Ffinch-Shah) bullying Tweedy as they snap along to West Side Story music, but this is quickly forgotten after the first few acts.
Giffords Circus: Laguna Bay is another example of circus excellence from the company but struggles to follow through on its theming. The acts are all incredibly talented and the atmosphere is lovely, especially for the children in the audience (and the young at heart), but the lack of cohesion keeps the show as a whole from being a next-level circus performance.
Giffords Circus: Laguna Bay tours until 28 September.
Photo Credit: Spencer McPherson - Still Moving Media
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