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 uni ...

that tours the

Cotswolds The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale. The area is defined by the bedrock of Ju ...

every summer. it is 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 (1694–17 ...

. Established in 2000, Giffords Circus is a small circus company, founded by Nell and Toti Gifford, that tours market towns of the Southwest. When not on the road, the founders concentrated on landscape architecture. Nell Gifford was the sister of designer Emma Bridgewater and journalist Clover Stroud. She died on 8 December 2019, aged 46, from cancer. The circus is now managed by her niece Lil Rice. and has been directed for the last 11 years by Cal McCrystal. Performers come from many different countries, but one regular is Tweedy the

Clown A clown is a person who performs comedy and arts in a state of open-mindedness using physical comedy, typically while wearing distinct makeup or costuming and reversing folkway-norms. History The most ancient clowns have been found in ...

(Alan Digweed) who was awarded the

British Empire Medal The British Empire Medal (BEM; formerly British Empire Medal for Meritorious Service) is a British and Commonwealth award for meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Crown. The current honour was created in 1922 to ...

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 High culture is a subculture that emphasizes and encompasses the cultural objects of aesthetic value, which a society collectively esteem as exemplary art, and the intellectual works of philosophy, history, art, and literature that a society co ...

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

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the ...

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

Greek Gods The following is a list of gods, goddesses, and many other divine and semi-divine figures from ancient Greek mythology and ancient Greek religion. Immortals The Greeks created images of their deities for many purposes. A temple would house th ...

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 The Homestead Acts were several laws in the United States by which an applicant could acquire ownership of government land or the public domain, typically called a homestead. In all, more than of public land, or nearly 10 percent of t ...

* 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, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

* 2021: "The Hooley" was an Irish dance themed show. * 2022: "Carpa" had a Mexican theme. * 2023: "Les Enfants Du Paradis".

References

External links

*
BBC review
2004 2000 establishments in England Circuses Performing arts in England {{UK-company-stub