Circus / Features
The thrill of contemporary circus returns to a big top in St Paul’s
On a recent afternoon, a unicyclist and accordionist were both upside down high in the air as giant sticks of candy floss and huge lollipops were carried around beneath them, all the while serenaded by singing as well as whoops and hollers.
After a brief pause, the live music retarted and a huge metal ring began to spin with two daredevil circus performers hanging from it as it rotated on its axis round and round .
This seemingly chaotic but carefully choreographed scene was taking place within a silver big top on a disused patch of land in St Paul’s which for the last couple of months has been occupied by the team from NoFit State.
is needed now More than ever
NoFit State’s silver big top in St Paul’s – photo: Martin Booth
NoFit State’s show, Sabotage, returns to the big top from May 18 to June 2 and the team are currently hard at work putting the finishing touches to the new and improved production.
“All of it is very low tech,” explained artistic director Tom Rack. “All ropes, pulleys, clips and cables. It’s complex choreography with simple basic equipment, all used in clever creative ways, all so slick and so well drilled.”
As if on cue, a small dog wandered across the stage. She was not part of the show but very much part of the NoFit State family, with performers and crew coming from across Europe and all living in caravans on the site of a former paper factory.
The land off Wilson Street between St Paul’s Community Sports Academy and St Paul’s Park (which before the factory was a residential area) has planning permission for more than 350 new flats but for now has been given to NoFit State to use for a nomimal charge.
Tom Rack oversees the overall artistic vision of NoFit State, including the company’s community and engagement programmes – photo: Martin Booth
“We live together, work together, eat together, travel together, make the show together, take on the elements together,” said Tom.
“These guys put their lives in each other’s hands. They flow together like one organism. There’s no other artform that can compare to circus.”
Tom, who has a mane of silver curls, is the company’s last remaining founding member and has travelled to as far afield as New York, Hong Kong and Montreal with NoFit State, promised both siliness and seriousness at Sabotage.
“There’s something special coming into a big top, entering into a world that’s a little bit other. It’s a bit of an escape.”
Firenza Guidi is the director of Sabotage – photo: Martin Booth
As the performers had a break from rehearsals, Sabotage director Firenza Guidi sat back in her chair.
The Milan-born writer, director and performance creator left Italy in 1980 and lived in Belfast until 1987 before moving to Cardiff, the home city of NoFit State.
She has directed every major NoFit State show since 1995, calling the cast and crew “one big family”.
“This is very much an ensemble piece in a lot of the scenes. You’re not in a green room once you have done your act. If you are not doing your thing, you are up a pole doing something else.
“No matter what your skill might be, this is a circus show and first of all I always work with the individual. I always use the metaphor, when you’re learning a language, if you learn a language of performance you should be learning a language that will allow you to make infinite sentences, not just make one sentence…
“When they (performers) arrive here, they can put the plug into an energy and an electricity that goes on into the solo and the ensemble parts.
“But also, it’s the individual as a whole. You don’t only exist in the time in theatre that you say your lines. You exist when you don’t say your lines, you exist when you don’t do your act, you exist as a human being in all your facets.”
Sabotage is being performed from May 18 to June 2 at the big top off Wilson Street in St Paul’s. For tickets and more information, visit www.nofitstate.org/shows/sabotage/sabotage-bristol
Main photo: NoFit State
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