News / Performing circus heads north for lengthy isles tour
A PERFORMING circus featuring acrobatics and comedy is set to visit Shetland in April and May for a series of shows throughout the islands.
Among the festivities will be the arrival of a big top tent, which will be used at the King George V play park on Lerwick, while the group will also hold workshops at schools.
Newcastle-based Let’s Circus will bring up a show team of eight artists from countries such as Australia, Japan and Kenya and on show will be the likes of comedy, juggling, acrobatics and clowning.
The Good Times for Happy People tour, which has been organised in conjunction with Shetland Arts, will begin with taster shows at Shetland Folk Festival in late April.
Their crew will then stay in the isles to host a number of events in local halls, leisure centres and schools across Shetland.
The first date will take place in Yell on 4 May before the production travels to Whalsay two days later.
On 9 May the team will perform in Brae and the following day there will be a show at the Aith Leisure Centre.
On 12 -13 May Let’s Circus will perform in Sandwick before they hold a Lerwick residency in the big top between 17-21 May.
Among the acts in the cast will be award-winning Japanese unicycling twosome Witty Look, Kenyan acrobatic pair Duo OneFace and juggler Matthew Tiffany from Yorkshire.
Two of the shows, in Sandwick and Lerwick, will be special “guizers’ nights” where people are invited to attend in Up Helly Aa squad-style outfits.
In between the public performances will be a number of workshops in schools.
Let’s Circus producer Steve Cousins, who has visited Shetland previously for the folk festival, said the show will be in the style of a “variety performance”.
“We’ve got spoken comedy, juggling, acrobats, unicycling, hula hoop, music, clowning and various other bits and bobs,” he said. “It’s very much a comedy and skill driven circus cabaret performance.”
Cousins added that the show “really suits all ages”, with something for everyone. “It gets to the kids, as well as the mums and dads and the grandparents as well,” he said.
“We aim ourselves as being as appealing as, I’d like to think, an episode of The Simpsons. We have the stuff in there that the kids like – the cartoon, the silly gags – but you’ve also got the more grown-up stuff, the comedy that goes over the heads of the kids.
“As circus should be, we want it to be experienced by everyone together, so it’s a genuine family experience that all the generations can to go to and get something out of.”
Let’s Circus, which has held similar tours in the Outer Hebrides for a number of years, hope to return to Shetland on a regular basis if the shows are a success.
- Tickets for all the performances are available now to buy now at early bird prices via the Shetland Arts box office.
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