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Monday, May 16, 2011
EdinburghGuide » Reviews » Imaginate Festival
Imaginate Festival: Circus Incognitus
ReviewBy Irene Brown - Posted on 15 May 2011
***** 5 STARS
Show DetailsVenue:
Traverse Theatre Company: Jamie Adkins (Cananda) Production: Shawna Houston (stage manager) Performers: Jamie Adkins Running time: 60mins
Jamie Adkins started his career age 13 as a street performer in SanDiego. After joining the Pickle Family Circus in San Francisco, he joined Montréal’s Cirque Éloize with whom he produced his creation, Typo, that toured the world for over two years when this consummate clown acrobat gave over 200 performances that were admired and loved by critics and the circus- going audiences alike.
His one man show, Circus Incognitus, made a fabulous firework of an ending for this year’s Imaginate Festival. To the happy sounds of trad jazz and 12 bar blues the audience anticipated this piece of physical theatre, but I doubt if anyone expected the thoroughly entertaining treat we were given. What can this man not do?
Full of Chaplinesque vulnerability, Adkins gave us rubber limbed clowning at its best, performing with immaculate timing feats that had to be seen to be believed. He is the eternal sad clown as he does understated, anxious juggling, high wire walking and balancing that makes the seemingly impossible look achievable, if not easy, his concentration well hidden behind practised chaos.
This breathtakingly talented man performs magic in his funny and utterly engaging not-quite-wordless show as he emits jawdropping joy to an enamoured audience. Old-fashioned circus skills are brought to the stage by one unique modest and thoroughly entertaining man.
I have an ambition to see James Thierry before I die, but if I don’t manage it, the 60 glorious minutes spent watching Jamie Adkins will be a fine alternative. If I could, I’d award him 6 stars – at least!
His one man show, Circus Incognitus, made a fabulous firework of an ending for this year’s Imaginate Festival. To the happy sounds of trad jazz and 12 bar blues the audience anticipated this piece of physical theatre, but I doubt if anyone expected the thoroughly entertaining treat we were given. What can this man not do?
Full of Chaplinesque vulnerability, Adkins gave us rubber limbed clowning at its best, performing with immaculate timing feats that had to be seen to be believed. He is the eternal sad clown as he does understated, anxious juggling, high wire walking and balancing that makes the seemingly impossible look achievable, if not easy, his concentration well hidden behind practised chaos.
This breathtakingly talented man performs magic in his funny and utterly engaging not-quite-wordless show as he emits jawdropping joy to an enamoured audience. Old-fashioned circus skills are brought to the stage by one unique modest and thoroughly entertaining man.
I have an ambition to see James Thierry before I die, but if I don’t manage it, the 60 glorious minutes spent watching Jamie Adkins will be a fine alternative. If I could, I’d award him 6 stars – at least!
Traverse Theatre 10 Cambridge Street Edinburgh EH12ED
Mayor joins the circus
Published on Monday 16 May 2011
from: thestar.co.uk
OUTGOING Lord Mayor of Sheffield Alan Law has been having fun in his last engagements before passing on his chain of office.
Coun Law was special guest in the big top at a performance of Zippo’s Phoenix Circus yesterday.
A spokesman for the circus said: “We were delighted to welcome him.”
Coun Law - who is being replaced as mayor by Coun Sylvia Dunkley on Wednesday - told performers and staff of the all-human show the circus was ‘great’. He also posed for pictures with clown Fips and ringmaster Joel Hatton.
The circus remains in Endcliffe Park until Tuesday evening before travelling to perform in Lancaster
Coun Law was special guest in the big top at a performance of Zippo’s Phoenix Circus yesterday.
A spokesman for the circus said: “We were delighted to welcome him.”
Coun Law - who is being replaced as mayor by Coun Sylvia Dunkley on Wednesday - told performers and staff of the all-human show the circus was ‘great’. He also posed for pictures with clown Fips and ringmaster Joel Hatton.
The circus remains in Endcliffe Park until Tuesday evening before travelling to perform in Lancaster
Three rings, one camera: Lincoln resident's long-ago photos of circus exhibited at Shelburne
Photo by Elliot Fenander. Collection of Shelburne Museum. Written byElliot Fenander
from: bulingtonfreepress.com
May. 14, 2011
Why photograph the circus?
Perhaps it's in my DNA. In 1917, my grandfather, Dwight Watkins, a professor of public speaking and English at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., wrote a one-act farce, "Freddie Goes to College." In the play, Freddie's parents believe he is studying hard; however, when they visit him, they discover he has joined the Wallenbeck Circus, married the beautiful equestrienne and become a one-third partner. It's an ironic twist on the Horatio Alger myth: Diligence at college wasn't the springboard for Freddie's colossal success.
Perhaps, as Wordsworth stated, "The child is father of the man." Fast-forward to 1946, after World War II, when my father took me, at the age of seven, to see the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus at 11th Street and Erie Avenue in Philadelphia. Still vivid are my memories of the clown, Lou Jacobs, getting out of his midget car; the equilibrist, Unus, white-gloved and balancing high atop a globe on his index finger; and Emmett Kelly's Weary Willie, valiantly attempting to sweep a shifting pool of spotlight under a rug.Subsequently, I learned how to develop film and make prints at summer camp, but my main responsibility became academic — high school, college, and graduate school. As I embarked on my career as a high school English teacher, my parents gave me "Points of My Compass," a book of E.B. White's essays. In "The Ring of Time," there it was, the basis of my future photographic exploration."The circus comes as close to being the world in microcosm as anything I know; in a way, it puts all the rest of show business in the shade. Its magic is universal and complex. Out of its wild disorder comes order; from its rank smell rises the good aroma of courage and daring; out of its preliminary shabbiness comes the final splendor. And buried in its familiar boasts of its advance agents lies the modesty of most of its people." We glory in the circus because we see people performing feats that most of us can only do in our dreams. The circus gives the impression of freedom and fantasy; it doesn't matter whether the ringmaster's hyperbolic adjectives are fabrications — we want to believe them.read more at:http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20110515/ARTS04/105150304/Three-rings-one-camera-Lincoln-resident-s-long-ago-photos-circus-exhibited-Shelburne?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE%7Cs
Perhaps, as Wordsworth stated, "The child is father of the man." Fast-forward to 1946, after World War II, when my father took me, at the age of seven, to see the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus at 11th Street and Erie Avenue in Philadelphia. Still vivid are my memories of the clown, Lou Jacobs, getting out of his midget car; the equilibrist, Unus, white-gloved and balancing high atop a globe on his index finger; and Emmett Kelly's Weary Willie, valiantly attempting to sweep a shifting pool of spotlight under a rug.Subsequently, I learned how to develop film and make prints at summer camp, but my main responsibility became academic — high school, college, and graduate school. As I embarked on my career as a high school English teacher, my parents gave me "Points of My Compass," a book of E.B. White's essays. In "The Ring of Time," there it was, the basis of my future photographic exploration."The circus comes as close to being the world in microcosm as anything I know; in a way, it puts all the rest of show business in the shade. Its magic is universal and complex. Out of its wild disorder comes order; from its rank smell rises the good aroma of courage and daring; out of its preliminary shabbiness comes the final splendor. And buried in its familiar boasts of its advance agents lies the modesty of most of its people." We glory in the circus because we see people performing feats that most of us can only do in our dreams. The circus gives the impression of freedom and fantasy; it doesn't matter whether the ringmaster's hyperbolic adjectives are fabrications — we want to believe them.read more at:http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20110515/ARTS04/105150304/Three-rings-one-camera-Lincoln-resident-s-long-ago-photos-circus-exhibited-Shelburne?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE%7Cs
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Circus Vargas takes family unity on the road
Katya and Nelson Quiroga have a unusual juggling act: parents, children and other relatives in a 1,400-seat circus tent.
Workers ready the tent and midway for the five-day run of Circus Vargas in Hollywood. The family-owned venture will move to Orange County next. (Bob Chamberlin, Los Angeles Times / May 15, 2011
By Bob Pool, Los Angeles Times
May 15, 2011
They aren't just clowning around when they say this group offers family entertainment.
Katya Quiroga, a seventh-generation circus performer, and husband Nelson Quiroga, a fifth-generation Big Topper, own Circus Vargas, which has set up through Monday at a Hollywood athletic field where Sunset Boulevard crosses the Hollywood Freeway.My father is general manager and tent master, my mother is a retired acrobat and my sister is a former acrobat who now is Circus Vargas' graphic designer. Nelson's parents used to be acrobats too, and they work in the concessions department," said 41-year-old Katya.
The Quirogas' three daughters — Graciella, 3, Daniella, 8 and Mariella, 13 — are also being taught performing skills. "We've introduced them to the circus arts, dancing and acrobatics. I'm pretty sure our kids will follow in our footsteps," said 44-year-old Nelson.
Nelson's career was launched when he was 11 and performing with his parents and brother in a South American circus, based in Argentina.read more at:http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-adv-circus-vargas-20110515,0,1599373.story
Katya Quiroga, a seventh-generation circus performer, and husband Nelson Quiroga, a fifth-generation Big Topper, own Circus Vargas, which has set up through Monday at a Hollywood athletic field where Sunset Boulevard crosses the Hollywood Freeway.My father is general manager and tent master, my mother is a retired acrobat and my sister is a former acrobat who now is Circus Vargas' graphic designer. Nelson's parents used to be acrobats too, and they work in the concessions department," said 41-year-old Katya.
The Quirogas' three daughters — Graciella, 3, Daniella, 8 and Mariella, 13 — are also being taught performing skills. "We've introduced them to the circus arts, dancing and acrobatics. I'm pretty sure our kids will follow in our footsteps," said 44-year-old Nelson.
Nelson's career was launched when he was 11 and performing with his parents and brother in a South American circus, based in Argentina.read more at:http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-adv-circus-vargas-20110515,0,1599373.story
TORY ‘U-TURN’ ON CIRCUS ANIMALS
Number 10 forced Caroline Spellman to do a U-turn on banning circus animals, it is thought
May 15,2011
By Ted Jeory
DAVID CAMERON was last night accused of “losing touch” after the Government refused to ban wild animals being used in travelling circuses.Lib Dem MP Bob Russell said the Prime Minister was betraying “civilised society” after suspicions that Number 10 had forced Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman to do a U-turn on the issue.
Only last month, the Sunday Express was told by senior sources in the Department for the Environment and Rural Affairs that Ms Spelman was “minded” to end the exploitation of wild animals for public entertainment.
She was said to have been persuaded amid the massive outcry that followed video footage showing circus elephant Annie being beaten by her keeper.
However last Friday, instead of a ban, the Government announced it would introduce a new licensing system for the 39 tigers, lions and other wild animals that are forced to travel thousands of miles a year around Britain in circus wagons.
In her statement, Ms Spelman said she believed “most people would prefer not to see wild animals performing in circuses” and it is suspected that Downing Street overruled her on the grounds that Whitehall should not be interfering.
Mr Russell, who has campaigned for a ban for 40 years, said last night: “I was hoping the Conservatives would do what Labour failed to do and ban these cruel acts. The Coalition government has made a huge error. If it’s the case that Number 10 has over-ruled Defra then this is not the way to conduct collective government.
David Cameron had a golden opportunity to show that this Government was opposed to forcing exotic creatures to perform stunts and tricks that are against their nature and completely inappropriate in a civilised society.
Read more: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/246729/Tory-U-turn-on-circus-animalsTory-U-turn-on-circus-animals#ixzz1MPxGveMp
Only last month, the Sunday Express was told by senior sources in the Department for the Environment and Rural Affairs that Ms Spelman was “minded” to end the exploitation of wild animals for public entertainment.
She was said to have been persuaded amid the massive outcry that followed video footage showing circus elephant Annie being beaten by her keeper.
However last Friday, instead of a ban, the Government announced it would introduce a new licensing system for the 39 tigers, lions and other wild animals that are forced to travel thousands of miles a year around Britain in circus wagons.
In her statement, Ms Spelman said she believed “most people would prefer not to see wild animals performing in circuses” and it is suspected that Downing Street overruled her on the grounds that Whitehall should not be interfering.
Mr Russell, who has campaigned for a ban for 40 years, said last night: “I was hoping the Conservatives would do what Labour failed to do and ban these cruel acts. The Coalition government has made a huge error. If it’s the case that Number 10 has over-ruled Defra then this is not the way to conduct collective government.
David Cameron had a golden opportunity to show that this Government was opposed to forcing exotic creatures to perform stunts and tricks that are against their nature and completely inappropriate in a civilised society.
Read more: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/246729/Tory-U-turn-on-circus-animalsTory-U-turn-on-circus-animals#ixzz1MPxGveMp
2011 San Bernardino County Fair kicks off with a new opening day record
JONATHAN BERG, FOR THE DAILY PRESS Dozens of fans gather to watch the Wild West Turkey Stampede, a whimsical race put on by Nancy and Gil Riegler with their RC truck "Big Red," at the San Bernardino County Fair on Saturday.
May 14, 2011
Victorville Daily Press
Allison Johnson, Special to the Press Dispatch
The clouds parted right as the 2011 San Bernardino County Fair began Saturday, and the Green Acres-themed fair kicked off with great energy from those waiting to get in.
The fair set a new opening day record, according to general manager Ken Alstott, and fair officials had to open a reserve parking lot.
“I’ve never seen this in my seven years,” Alstott said of the crowd. He also said 6,000 people attended the Skillet concert.
Welcoming fairgoers at the main gate were clowns Tadpole and Flo — Mike Barnard, of Georgia, and Linda Hulet, of Nevada.
They were not only entertaining the waiting public but also helping to direct traffic and make sure everyone had their tickets ready
READ MORE AT:http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/fair-27701-county-day.html
May 14, 2011
Victorville Daily Press
Allison Johnson, Special to the Press Dispatch
The clouds parted right as the 2011 San Bernardino County Fair began Saturday, and the Green Acres-themed fair kicked off with great energy from those waiting to get in.
The fair set a new opening day record, according to general manager Ken Alstott, and fair officials had to open a reserve parking lot.
“I’ve never seen this in my seven years,” Alstott said of the crowd. He also said 6,000 people attended the Skillet concert.
Welcoming fairgoers at the main gate were clowns Tadpole and Flo — Mike Barnard, of Georgia, and Linda Hulet, of Nevada.
They were not only entertaining the waiting public but also helping to direct traffic and make sure everyone had their tickets ready
READ MORE AT:http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/fair-27701-county-day.html
High notes in vibrant history of circus stars
Carolyn Webb
Carolyn Webb
May 12, 2011, from:http://www.smh.com.au
Silvers Circus matriarch Anna Gasser with her daughter Rosita. Photo: Justin McManusIN THE 1920s, Australians May Wirth and Con Colleano headlined Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey's ''greatest show on earth''.
US Variety called Wirth's forward somersault on the back of a moving horse ''a sensation''. Colleano was known as the ''Wizard of the Wire'' for his forward somersault on the tight wire. They had luxury train apartments and high incomes.
Both artists died in Florida in the 1970s, unrecognised in Australia.
US Variety called Wirth's forward somersault on the back of a moving horse ''a sensation''. Colleano was known as the ''Wizard of the Wire'' for his forward somersault on the tight wire. They had luxury train apartments and high incomes.
Both artists died in Florida in the 1970s, unrecognised in Australia.
Mark St Leon, authorThey should be household names, says a circus historian, Mark St Leon, who spotlights them in his new book, Circus: The Australian Story.
''I want to see these people enshrined in our history. They were to circus what [Dame Nellie] Melba is to opera, what Don Bradman is to cricket, but they're forgotten,'' says St Leon.
He says the book is the definitive history of circus in Australia, and his life's work.
The 58-year-old Sydney business studies lecturer started his research out of curiosity at the origins of his unusual surname.
He knew family had been in the circus, but in the 1960s this was akin to having convict ancestry - you didn't talk about it.
But in 1969, being 17 and with the lure of forbidden fruit, St Leon went to the State Library of NSW and found an 1883 ad for St Leons' ''great mammoth'' circus with ''150 men and horses'' at Newtown.
The St Leon's circus founder, Mark's great-great-grandfather John Jones, was both a convict and a circus performer.
A London street performer banished to Hobart for theft, in 1847 he performed acrobatics in Australia's first custom-built circus, Robert Radford's Royal Circus in Launceston.
In 1850 Jones moved to Sydney and formed his own troupe, the Royal Australian Equestrian Circus, one of Sydney's earliest circuses. With the gold rush, he toured the eastern states for decades and in 1865 gave himself a showbiz name - Matthew St Leon. By 1884 his circus was Australia's biggest, including his three performing sons, and the family ran circuses until 1941. Mark's second cousin, Leo St Leon, is still a member of the Stardust Circus that tours Australia.
Australia has about 12 traditional circuses, including Silvers, run by the Gasser family.
Anna Gasser says the biggest circus change has been the demise of animal acts such as lions and monkeys. She is sure of the circus's future, however.
''As long as there are children, there always will be a circus, you can be sure of that.''
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/high-notes-in-vibrant-history-of-circus-stars-20110511-1ej0j.html#ixzz1M8g0jT2w
AUSTRAILIAN CIRCUS PHOTOS, PART 2
Four generations of the St Leon Circus Family in the 1898 photograph.
Little Gus St Leon in the 1885 photograph.
Peggy St Leon on Bonny.
A portrait of Con Colleano from the book.AUSTRAILIAN CIRCUS STARS, PART 3
Four generations of the St Leon Circus Family in the 1898 photograph.
Australian born Wirth Brothers in this 1889 photograph. From left to right are: Philip, Harry, John and George.
Little Mary Sole.
Harry Mawdesley, Matthew St Leon and James Morgan in this photograph from the book.
1925 poster of Con Colleano.
1912 New York studio portrait of May Wirth.Saturday, May 14, 2011
Ministers appear to be wobbling over banning wild animals in circuses
Around 20 wild animals, including tigers, perform in British circusesCircus animal ban is held up as ministers wobble over legal risksBy Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent
from: www.independent.co.uk.
Friday, 13 May 2011
Ministers appear to be wobbling over banning wild animals in circuses, after a campaign by The Independent.The Government had been expected to announce that it was abandoning its previous support for a ban and instead opting for a system of self-regulation. But at Commons question time yesterday, the Animal Welfare minister failed to announce voluntary regulation. Instead, he said the Government was concerned about a potential legal challenge to introducing a ban on wild animals in the big top.
The exchanges took place at Environment questions as The Independent's online petition calling for a ban passed 15,000 signatures.
The exchanges took place at Environment questions as The Independent's online petition calling for a ban passed 15,000 signatures.
Pileup on the 101 Freeway!
By Derek Thomas Call it Cirque du Soleil Lite, nestled beside the Hollywood Freeway. Circus Vargas harkens back to the early days of the traveling circus, a family-friendly spectacle akin to Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. This, however, is an "animal-free" show, so no Gunther Gebel-Williams types to get PETA's panties in a twist. Among the acts: the Flying Tabares' double trapeze, African acrobatics by the Zinduna Brothers, the Garcia Family Cyclists versus the Globe of Death, a bungee ballet, high-wire artists and clowns, clowns, clowns. You've been warned.
Circus Vargas
Thu., May 12, 7:30pm, Fri., May 13, 7:30pm, Sat., May 14, 1:30pm, Sat., May 14, 4:30pm, Sat., May 14, 7:30pm, Sun., May 15, 12:30pm, Sun., May 15, 3:30pm, Sun., May 15, 6:30pm, Mon., May 16, 6:30pm Under the Big Top
Circus Vargas
Thu., May 12, 7:30pm, Fri., May 13, 7:30pm, Sat., May 14, 1:30pm, Sat., May 14, 4:30pm, Sat., May 14, 7:30pm, Sun., May 15, 12:30pm, Sun., May 15, 3:30pm, Sun., May 15, 6:30pm, Mon., May 16, 6:30pm Under the Big Top
SHRINE CIRCUS IS ROLLING BACK INTO KEARNEY, NEBRASKA
The Shrine Circus returns to Kearney’s Viaero Event Center for a pair of performances at 4 and 7:30 p.m. on May 26.Hosted by the area Tehama Shrine Temple, the shows are presented by the “James Cristy Cole Circus” and feature many longtime circus performers and legendary acts.
Tickets are $10 for advance sales and $12 the day of the show. Children age 12 and under are free. All seats are general admission.
Tickets can be purchased from area Shriners or by visiting the Event Center box office in person.
Highlights of this year's show include: dancing cowgirls, aerial divas, swinging trapeze artists and exotic animal trainers featuring lions, tigers and elephants.Other acts include the popular dancing elephant, Anna Louise, and trick roper Vince Bruce, who has two Guinness World Records in trick roping.
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