Giffords Circus is a traditional English

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicy ...

that tours the

Cotswolds The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the bedroc ...

and south of England every summer, also performing at

Chiswick House Chiswick House is a Neo-Palladian style villa in the Chiswick district of London, England. A "glorious" example of Neo-Palladian architecture in west London, the house was designed and built by Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington (1694–1753 ...

History

Established in 2000, Giffords Circus is a small circus company, founded by Nell Gifford and her husband Toti Gifford, that tours market towns of central South West England. Nell Gifford was involved with reshaping her circus to meet modern tastes. She was awarded a £10,000 grant and that enabled more people to be involved with producing a show. Barry Grantham was involved with the choreography. Three important women who assisted were the horsewoman Rebecca Townsend, the trapeze artist Emily Park on the trapeze and the aerialist Isabelle Woywode. In the following year Giffords Circus had their first themed show titled "Pearl". Nell Gifford died in 2019. The circus was later managed by her niece Lil Rice. and has been directed for many years by Cal McCrystal. Performers come from many different countries, but one regular is Tweedy the

Clown A clown is a person who performs physical comedy and arts in an Improvisational theatre#Comedy, open-ended fashion, typically while wearing distinct cosmetics, makeup or costume, costuming and reversing social norm, folkway-norms. The art of ...

(Alan Digweed) who joined in 2004. He was awarded the

British Empire Medal The British Empire Medal (BEM; formerly British Empire Medal for Meritorious Service) is a British and Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth award for meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Monarchy of the United Ki ...

in the

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list.

Tours

* 2004: "Pearl" * 2006: "Joplin": with a 1960s theme * 2008: "Caravan": set in a horse fair around 1900 * 2010: "Yasmine": inspired by the life of equestrienne Yasmine Smart, who played herself in the production * 2011: "War and Peace": themed around Napoleon's disastrous intrusion into Russia, seen through the eyes of a Russian aristocratic family * 2012: "The Saturday Book" * 2013: "Lucky 13": based on the culture clash resulting from a

high art In a society, high culture encompasses cultural objects of aesthetic value that a society collectively esteems as exemplary works of art, as well as the literature, music, history, and philosophy a society considers representative of its cultur ...

opera- and ballet-themed circus show that is gatecrashed by a rowdy

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

n travelling circus * 2014: "The Thunders": with the

Greek Gods In ancient Greece, deities were regarded as immortal, anthropomorphic, and powerful. They were conceived of as individual persons, rather than abstract concepts or notions, and were described as being similar to humans in appearance, albeit larg ...

as its theme * 2015: "Moon Songs": blending cultural images of the moon with the story of two young

Ethiopian Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighboring Eritrea and other parts of ...

jugglers dreaming of fame * 2016: "The Painted Wagon": centred on a group of 19th-century American homesteaders * 2017: "Any Port in a Storm": with maritime themes, and telling the story of the circus visiting the 17th-century Spanish court * 2018: "My Beautiful Circus": celebrating 250 years of the invention of the circus as an art form * 2019: "Xanadu": with a 1960s hippy "Summer of Love" theme * 2020: "The Feast": a non-touring show due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

* 2021: "The Hooley" was an Irish dance themed show. * 2022: "Carpa" had a Mexican theme. * 2023: "Les Enfants Du Paradis". * 2024: "Avalon" had an Arthurian theme * 2025: "Laguna" has a 1950s America theme

References

External links

*
BBC review
2004 2000 establishments in England English circuses {{UK-company-stub