Nights at the Circus.

[Uncle Arly]

Back in May my group performed Nights at the Circus by Kneeehigh theatre (Original book by Angela Carter). This was out Final Major Production after two years on the BTEC National Diploma Performing Arts course.

Not only did we perform the roles of the characters in the play, we had technical roles to fill to produce the show. We created it ourselves, the set, the lighting, the songs and music, pretty much everything but the dialogue.

I had the technical role of Stage Manager whilst also playing the lead male role in the show. I'll get onto some pictures now so as not to bore you.

Tash, who played Fevvers.

Tash And I. (I played Jack Walser).

Tash and Kim who played Lizzie.

Fie who played Ma Nelson and Rhodora the Tiger Princess.

Joe who played Buffo the Clown.

Fie as Rhodora the Tiger Princess.

Geo who played Mignon.

L to R, Katrina, Becky & Kelly who played the 'Creatures' of the Theatre.

Will who played Colonel Kearney.

The whole cast singing the finale, 'Land of the Lemon Trees'.

Here is a review of the performance from The Blackmore Vale Gazzete.

Nights at the Circus, Full On Theatre, Yeovil College

KNEEHIGH theatre company's Emma Rice worked with adaptor Tom Morris to bring Angela Carter's kaleidoscopic magic realist novel Nights at the Circus to the stage, and I remember being bowled over by its audacity when it came to Bristol in 2006.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realised that, glittering though it was, in packing in the burlesque it had lost the essential humanity of the original.

That this was due to Rice's direction of the Kneehigh performers was proved by 14 graduating students from Yeovil College's performing arts department last week. Their interpretation was nothing short of brilliant.

The laughs were there, but tempered with passion, hope, and human frailty - much more in the spirit of Carter's marvellous book.

This production had three directors - Alex Gartshore, Philip Grant and John Lee – whose vision inspired some extraordinary performances from the student actors. The movement director was student Kimberly Parker, (who also recaptured the character of Lizzie from the delightful but pantomimic Carl Grose in the Kneehigh show) and she created unforgettable images from the bodies of the performers.

The story is of a young reporter, Walser, who has set out to uncover the humbug behind theatrical fakery, and his quest has taken him to London where a winged woman is wowing the crowds. Keen to find that Fevvers is a fake, he is drawn into her world and under her spell, and he follows her to St Petersburg and to Paris before the two of them move towards an accommodation.

En route they encounter literate revolutionary prostitutes, a tongueless tiger trainer, a brainless strongman, a showman with a psychic pig and a schizophrenic clown – and live through enough set-piece scenes to fill three regular lifetimes.

Tash Wensley brought a touching vulnerability to Fevvers, and Ashley Rushton was entirely convincing as the driven young writer.

Kimberley Parker's Lizzie was determinedly brave and Georgina Chinn's Mignon poignant. Will Poulton's Col Kearney stole the scene (as he should)

Gary Brooks managed his gigantic encumbrance without apparent embarrassment, and Joe Portman, who was also responsible for the music, brought the house down with his rendition of The Old Clown's Woman - though it was high comedy richly laced with menace and misery.

There wasn't one weak performance. The three "creatures" brought to life tigers, tongues of fire, sullen tarts and angst-ridden clowns with great skill. Milli Edmed's Sybil the Pig was comically perfect, and as commentator Vesta she brought the the audience back to the turn of the 18th and 19th century with persuasive skill.

The innate feminism of the book was vividly portrayed, as well as the excitement, danger and extreme oddness of Fevvers and her life. It encapsulated the very soul of theatrical illusion and the lengths to which the performers must go to create it.

From the opening moments, when a glitch delayed the show and the characters on stage started their daring seductions before the first word was spoken, to the glorious ending with its promise of a new century (the 20th) this was a triumph for all concerned, and the entire team, backstage, on stage and production, should be very, very proud of this magnificent achievement. I only wish I could see it again. GP-W

Thanks for reading, comments welcome.

 

[peep]

Wow, that review made it sound amazing, wish I could've seen it. Did you enjoy putting the show together and performing in it?

 

[Uncle Arly]

Wow, that review made it sound amazing, wish I could've seen it. Did you enjoy putting the show together and performing in it?

Yeah, we were so shocked by that review, we never would have thought people who had seen Kneehigh do it (Kneehigh are so freaking amazing), would prefer ours.

The process was SO stressful. We argued so much, I nearly quit at one point, but it was worth it for the three performances we did. I enjoyed every second of those three days.

 

[AJ]

Performing arts... the argument provoking subject of life.

But LOL at how you actually get a set to perform on. You're a butt-wipe. It's ok though, i can handle stage blocks and flats.

But looks very impressive, and the reveiw <3

 

[Uncle Arly]

Performing arts... the argument provoking subject of life.

But LOL at how you actually get a set to perform on. You're a butt-wipe. It's ok though, i can handle stage blocks and flats.

But looks very impressive, and the reveiw <3

We had to build it, from scratch, and the costumes, that's why we were so proud. And thank you.