Culture | Theatre Arthurian legend proves a fitting theme for this charming new show from Giffords Circus, a troupe that’s built on romance and somehow manages to be both thoroughly international and English to its core. Writer and director Cal McCrystal, the go-to guy for physical comedy, uses the yearning of clown Cuthbert (charismatic Tyler West) for a place at the Round Table as a framing device for a series of lovingly presented big top skills. So King Arthur (American Nick Hodge) performs a rope act and turns himself into a human gyroscope, spinning around in big metal hoop called a Cyr wheel.
Lancelot and Morgan le Fay (Italian siblings Dylan and Asia Medini) execute a daredevil rollerskating routine plus solo balancing and hula hoop acts. Guinevere (Brit Nell O’Hara) belts out nerd-triggering pop hits from the 60s to the 2000s in front of a six-piece band. Okay, the chivalric theme gets a bit lost somewhere between the dog act and gravity-defying Ukrainian acrobats The Godfathers.
The latter group and the Medinis are the standout turns, along with aerialists Morgan Barbour and Victoria Sejr, who carve elegant shapes while dangling on high, sometimes literally hanging on by the skin of their teeth. It’s the sheer dedication to perfecting pointless skills that I love about circus. To be honest not everyone on the bill operates on the level of excellence we’ve come to expect from mega-troupes like Cirque du Soleil.
But Giffords exudes far more warmth, heart and f.