Gifford's Circus

Gifford's Circus is a traditional English circus which tours the West Country every summer. It includes acts such as a strongman, a clown, horse whispering, a chap who plays jigs on the fiddle while balancing on a rope, dubbed 'the enigmatic kwabana lindsay', dancing, and acrobatics.

Established in 2000, Giffords Circus is a small, stylish circus company that delivers high quality circus / theatrefusion to the villages and market towns of the south west. It combines dance, comedy, horses and live musicin a fast paced live one hour show, located on village greens in a small white tent surrounded by hand madeburgundy and gold showman’s wagons.

The 2008 tour will be called ‘Caravan’ and will be set in a horse fair in around 1900. The fair at that timewould have meant a colourful and eclectic meeting of performers, traders, fair ground people, musicians,gypsies. The fair was a time for meeting, showing off, selling things, exhibiting things – for the best of thingsto be brought along – your best food, your best animals, your best trick.

The world of the fair - strings of fairy lights, a coconut shy, donkey carts, handfuls of shiny red balloons,stands selling fans, gold china, fabrics and fake flowers. Music will fill the air – fair organs clashing with thevibrant sound of gypsy brass bands. All of society can be seen at the fair – brilliantly dressed gypsies in gaudyfurs and gold jewels, policemen, horse dealers, families in their Sunday best, traders, wandering musicians,flower sellers, cattle breeders, town people, country people – all shoulder to shoulder enjoying the throng,the cacophony, the smells of food cooking outdoors, the colourful stands and flickering lights, the exoticcreatures and people, and the sense of holiday, of diversion from the day to day.

The 2006 'Joplin' tour had a 1960's theme reflected in the costumes and music.

Giffords Circus was founded and is run by Nell and Toti Gifford who, when not on the road, concentrate on landscape architecture.

External links

* [http://www.giffordscircus.com/ Gifford's Circus]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/focus/2004/08/circus.shtml BBC review] , 2004
*Kwabana Lindsay [http://www.kwabanalindsay.com/lisp/ilisp.php]