Giffords Circus Review – Les Enfants Du Paradis

Nell Gifford ran away to join the circus when she was eighteen years old. She fell in love with the forgotten art form, only briefly leaving to complete her studies at New College, Oxford. After joining at Circus Roncalli in Germany, Nell, and her fiancé Toti Gifford were inspired to start their own circus. They spent all their money on a white tent, and Nell set about finding performers and musicians. Whilst Toti began building the wagons and designing the circus architecture. And in 2000 their burgundy wagons took to the road and Giffords Circus was born.

Sadly, Nell passed away in 2019 at the young age of 46. This shocked the circus community, but they came together and unanimously agreed the show must go on. And this summer Gifford Circus has returned with its new show Les Enfants du Paradis. It will be Giffords biggest ever touring season, visiting 13 village greens and stately homes across the UK. They are currently at Chiswick House & Gardens in London, until 19 June, where I saw the show last week.

Circus acts are amazing to watch but boy do they remind you just how untalented of a human you are. First up were Marina Alvarado de Luna and Marika Ashley Gould, The Luna Girls. They are an award-winning aerial hoop duo who performed a beautiful routine. The Ethio-Selam Troupe followed with their Chinese Pole routine. Chinese poles are vertical poles on which circus performers can climb, slide down, jump off, and hold poses on. There were a lot of gasps from the audience as they performed.

I’m sure you’ve seen jugglers before, but have you ever seen someone juggle with their feet too. Now add to that aerial straps and hula hoops and you’ve got the talented Romy Meggiolaro. Other aerial acts included Alex Michael, who performs on trapeze and skywalk, and new to Giffords Circus, Antony Cesar. And what made these acts even more impressive was the fact that they all performed without a net. So, on top of their incredible skills they also have the nerve to perform in the air.

Other acts included Asia and Dylan Medini, The Skating Medinis, a brother and sister high-speed roller-skating act. Incredible but also terrifying at times with some of the tricks they pull out whilst on their skates. Sergi Buka, an illusionist, shadow player, and lanternist, created an amazing shadow show whilst riding a bicycle. We saw The Ethio-Selam Troupe return to perform a second routine but this time showcasing their Hoop Diving skills.

Amongst the circus performances we were treated to interweaving skits from Tweedy the clown. In January, Tweedy was named in the King’s New Year Honours List for his services to circus and local community. He was joined by Dany Santos Silva as Igor who helped keep the audience entertained whilst sets were changed over. And all the performances were assisted with music by Quel Fromage, The Giffords Circus Band. And singers Michael Fletcher and Nell O’Hara.

It wasn’t just the acts that were spectacular though, it was all the different parts of the show coming together. The set was like being transported into a dream state, with large moons, clouds, and tones of silver and purple. All the costumes worked for each performer and were intricately made. My favourites were Nell’s gold finale dress and the leotards worn by The Luna Girls. And following the finale, all the audience were invited into the circus for a dance and celebration with everyone.

There was one act that I’m not sure has a place in the circus anymore. And that was Amanda Sandow’s miniature English ponies. I’m sure that the animals are being treated well but I thought we had moved away from such things. And in all honesty, they just ran around in a circle before turning round and running the other way. It just seemed like a filler piece to me that didn’t bring much to the entire show.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Photo Credit: Rachel Louise Brown