Tijdens mijn zoektocht naar misbruik van het woord CIRCUS toch ook wel weer iets moois gevonden.
In The Guardian, de toonaangevende Engelse krant, een prachtige reportage over het circus.
Met als doel HET CIRCUS nieuw leven in te blazen, en dat kunnen we wel gebruiken!
Een fotograaf maakte de prachtige reportage bij het Giffords Circus, dat kwamen we hier al vaker tegen.
De eerste première na de corona-pandemie en na het overlijden van Nell Gifford....
Hier vindt u het: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesig ... hoto-essay
Bringing the circus back to life – a photo essay
The photojournalist Tom Pilston documents Giffords Circus as they prepare to return to touring for the first time since the pandemic struck in the UK, with their show The Hooley
Giffords are tour from 19 May to 26 September 2021
To watch Giffords Circus at Fennells Farm in Gloucestershire come back to life after suffering the double catastrophe of the premature death of its founder
and inspiration, Nell Gifford, followed by the havoc wrought by Covid-19, is a wonderful thing.
Andrejs Fjodorovs and his doves
In the wardrobe department, costume assistants Emily Ejderos and Johnny O’Connell and the head of wardrobe,
Manuela Flemming, create and adjust costumes for the show, now only a week away on 7 May.
A look from behind the curtain.
The rebirth throughout rehearsals is a performance in itself: professional, yes, but also organic, exhausting, anarchic and hilarious.
Giffords is a unique experience bringing together elements of traditional travelling circus with theatre, dance and comedy.
This year’s show is The Hooley, an “extravagance of Irishness” according to Lil Rice, Nell Gifford’s niece and now the company’s
producer, singer and aerial act.
“This is a vital rebirth from Covid-19 and Nell’s death.
We owe this to her and the cultural recovery fund, which kept us going when we were considering having to give up.
Without the arts the world is a very grey place,” says Lil.
Giffords Circus rehearse for the show in the round.
Lil Rice and Lotte Seal perform with Tony the horse.
Jonny Grundy and Manuel Artino perform.
To laugh, gasp and wonder, to be inspired by another human being standing in front of an audience doing
something beautiful, daring or just downright funny, is a wonderful thing.
It is an ancient and elemental part of a happy life.
Cal McCrystal is the director responsible for bringing the Circus back to life. He is seen here with the choreographer Colin Lang as Giffords Circus rehearse.
Rebecca Musselwhite and Lil Rice rehearse their horse routine in the tent.
Lil Rice, Tatiana Ozhiganova, Tweedy and Nancy Trotter Landry work on getting it right.
Cal McCrystal, the director, says: “We want this show to help end the cultural loneliness that we have all been suffering.
I have just re-read Dicken’s Tale of Two Cities, in which a character is released from the Bastille after years of incarceration and says: ‘I am recalled to life’.
I can’t get that phrase out of my head; it’s exactly how I feel doing this show.”
The front of house team await the opening night. Their job has never been more important.
They are responsible for keeping the audience safe from Covid-19, which involves one-way systems, social distancing and hand sanitiser.
Lil Rice, Tatiana Ozhiganova, Tweedy and Nancy Trotter Landry work on getting it right as the circus comes back to life.
In the wardrobe department, Jonny Grundy and Manuel Artino try on their costumes.
Camille Smith, a groom, prepares Tony for the ring rehearsals as Rebecca Musselwhite prepares herself with stretches.
Postponed from last year, The Hooley was conceived by Nell Gifford, in collaboration with director and friend Cal McCrystal, shortly before she died in the winter of 2019.
The company all agree that Nell’s guiding hand is still present in bringing this show to life.
Tweedy, a clown so funny he makes your face ache, and Nancy Trotter Landry, a singer, dancer, comedian and hoop artist, have both been with Giffords for many years.
According to Tweedy, Giffords longstanding and truly funny clown, “we will be working on a routine and all be thinking: ‘What would Nell think of this? She would hate it, chuck it out!’
“Or: ‘It’s absurd … she’d love it!’”
Giffords Circus performing in front of an audience for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic.
A member of the audience sheds a tear.
As I sat photographing the first ever performance of The Hooley, I turned my camera away from the performance for a moment and saw through the viewfinder a woman’s face, looking up towards the flying figure, high above us.
There were tears running down her cheek.
Someone had switched the colour back on.