CCC Newsletter April 1999
Past Events
20th & 21st March - "Silver Screen Stories" - Community Show 1999
It is refreshing to view a well balanced and rounded piece of theatre, and Cambridge Community Circus's Silver Screen Stories was just that.
I arrive at the Cambridge Drama Centre early on the Saturday evening to ensure my ticket is collected and already there is a queue with the theatre almost full. First on is an endearing duo who parade across the stage in fur coats and with pretend arctic equipment. It is a mixture of mime and slap-stick; I find myself giggling but the audience are not warmed up and fail to guffaw loudly.
Next on is a wonderfully moving sketch: six characters enact (through acro-balance) a story of murder, love and detective work. There is a feeling of black and white gangster films and a clever use of real audio footage adds to this atmosphere. The balancing is polished, (there are some excellent synchronised moments), and it is well acted although some relationships worked better than others. Occasionally the narrative is lost and I am no longer sure of the plot but it doesn't matter because it is still beautiful.
Perhaps my favourite moment in the show is when two crazy looking gentlemen enter unicycling with umbrellas in their hands and swinging each other about. The song "Singing in the Rain" is played whilst several unicylists find different ways to mimic Fred Astaire and his tap-dancing routine. "42nd Street" is the act to follow: some humourous stilt work, large grins and a rhythmic stomping of stilts (and I can't remember any more of it than that).
After the interval a whole bunch of jugglers enter in cowboy costumes and perform some simple tricks in character, but things don't really hot up until the yoyoing wild west hero enters. Bits of this drag on a little but I enjoy picturesque moments when the whole group juggle independently but at the same time.
A U.V. performance changes the mood. Unfortunately a trapeze act feels out of place squashed in the middle of a story about visiting the moon, but as always this aerial act is performed with great skill and a high level of professionalism.
The last sketch is great piece of theatre. It is a concentrated and subtle piece of comedy in which four cinema goers sit back to watch their movie. We in the audience become the ones watched and through the actors' expressions imagine what the film is like.
I have seen many of the recent Community Shows but this one stands out mainly due to a clever composition of short and sharp acts held together by a strong theme.
review by Alex Baraitser
The video of the show should be available in a couple of months - let Gill know if you would like a copy.
12th British Juggling Convention in Durham
Since the weather remained a steady gorgeous, the company of 700ish jugglers was excellent and the whole shebang was held in wonderful Durham, there wasn't much that could go wrong. A whole host of stuff went fairly right, actually.
The convention hit the ground running on Thursday night, with a game of unicycle hockey and, later, the renegade tent heaving with punters ready to be entertained. Mad Dutch club swinger "Dave" started something bigger than he could possibly have imagined by asking for the most unlikely tune possible for a club swinging routine: the response was a rousing version of "Bohemian Rhapsody" by the assembled masses. The theme for the weekend was set, sung at every opportunity. "Mad Dave", as he became affectionately known, reared his shaven head several times during the week, in wildly varying states of soberness. More of him later......
Friday kicked off for me with MUNI (Mountain Unicycling, for the uninitiated), which was more the equivalent of a saunter along vaguely hilly woodland paths, but also involved some wildly irresponsible (a.k.a. fun) careering down steep rocky bits. Levels of expertise varied from me ("Damn twig got caught under my tyre!") to Roger "Could Unicycle over Water, probably" Davis, who destroyed the illusion of finding this game difficult by answering his mobile phone half way down a particularly steep slope. Honour points to Stuart here for trying the tough stuff, even if he did wipe out quite spectacularly a couple of times.
Friday night's entertainment featured a ceilidh a brilliant show by the combined talents of Circomedia and Circus Space and more Renegade - good comedy, excellent juggling skills (including the ubiquitous Jay Gilligan). The cinema "finale" from CCC's Community Show was re-enacted to a pleasingly warm response, only one of the many appearances by various CCC regulars on the Renegade Stage - congrats to Paul & Paul (singing, balancing and, erm, bending) Louise (raving) and Stuart (obscene origami - ask him). The highlight of Saturday was clearly the top-notch show, relocated in Middlesbrough for logistical reasons and to give Durham a well-needed break from jugglers, unicyclist and people in silly hats. Many, many memorable acts: The Gandini's did their "thang" as they do, i.e. bizarrely, but with impeccable juggling skills. Their overall effect can be summed up in two words: "eh?" and "wow!". Jason Maverick performed an astonishing mime piece, amazingly managing to make robot movement an element of an entertaining act and two of the students from the previous nights show did impressively speedy and fluid diabolo tricks and a superb three to five club routine respectively. Less thrillingly, two of the most respected jugglers tussled briefly with a large folding climbing frame as the "alternative" act for the night, which provided ammunition for a "tribute" CCC renegade performance. Mark has since promised to make me a cute desktop version of this act (without the people).
Saturday night stretched on for a beery eternity, particularly when the loud folk band were playing. However, the atmosphere was that of a warm, blurry farewell do, with drink and merriment. The dancey [dancing] segued
effortlessly from folky whirling to a ravey night club and the renegade seemed to go on all night (at least 4.30am). "Mad Dave" after being thrown out of renegade on Saturday night for drunkenly attempting to burn the tent down, finally got to do his wierd swinging act, blindfold. This gave a bunch of acrobats a golden chance to run through his act doing comic rolls and dives. I'm not sure if Dave ever found out why he got so much applause.
Actually Saturday night never did end, that flat Sunday morning packing and bidding sorry farewell was all an illusion and in reality, I'm still there, in a field in Durham at BJC '99 laughing and juggling and singing "Is this the Real Life, is it just Fantasy?......." and probably will be most of this year. Don't call me............
review by Rob Lister
Future Events
Saturday 24th April -Grip Circus Theatre presents "Between The Trees"
As some of you may know, Charlie Hull recently set up a circus theatre company and they will be presenting a premiere of their new show at Wysing Arts, Bourn, near Cambridge on Saturday the 24th at 8 p.m. This is an outdoor performance so it would be best to check with Charlie on the day if it looks like rain or high winds - call (01223) 315172. The show lasts around ¾ of an hour and includes static trapeze, corde lisse, fire manipulation and much more. Please come along and tell us what you think! More details on the Web at www.welcome.to/grip.
Saturday 5th June - Strawberry Fair 1999
Grip are also performing the finale at Strawberry Fair so their trapeze rig will be up for most of the day - which means that a full lighting and sound rig, crashmats, trapezes etc. will be available for CCC to use. Please contact Charlie if you have anything you would like to perform at the Fair. If we can get enough acts together then we can raise several hundred pounds for CCC.
Other events during the summer
Sunday 27th June - Melbourn PTA
Saturday 10th July - Ely Agenda 21 event
Saturday 17th July - St.Ives
Friday 30th July - Sunday 1st August - Cambridge Folk Festival (free tickets available!!)
If you are available on any of these dates please tell Gill as soon as possible. Remember we make a significant part of our income from performing at events like these - which help make events such as the Community Show possible.
Workshops
Sorry to anyone who came along last Sunday to find there was no workshop - unfortunately all those who could have run the session were on their way back from the British Convention at the time. Workshops restart as normal (including trapeze) on Sunday 18th April.
We have a very special workshop on Sunday 16th May - an all-day session with those wonderful performers Heir of Insanity. Julia and Simon will be teaching acrobalance and aerial skills (including silks) during the day with a break for lunch. Please let Gill know if you are interested - the cost will be £10/£7 for non-members and £8/£5 for members - which gives you a very good reason to join as a member if you haven't already. We will start in the Drama Centre at 10 a.m. - please bring appropriate clothing and a packed lunch.
We are thinking of creating a Community Circus T-shirt - something simple with the logo on it. If you are interested please tell us and we will get some made up. They will be as cheap as possible (and cheaper to members).
Juggling Conventions
Sat May 15th - Sun 16th 1999 British MUNI weekend,Inside Park Campsite near Blandford Forum, Dorset, UK. Jerry Cooper, The Inside Park, Blandford, Dorset DT11 9AD, Tel: 01258 453719 Fax: 01258 459921, Email: InsPark@aol.com.
Apparently there is a rumour that the Wessex Juggling Convention might be happening again…more details when we get them - it's usually in early July.
Sat Aug 7th - Sun 8th , 1999 Crawley Juggling Convention - call 01293 552941
Thur Aug. 12th - Wed 18th , 1999 - 22nd European Juggling Convention, Grenoble, France - try www.eja.org
Sat Sep. 11th - Sun 12th , 1999 - London Juggling Convention, The Circus Space, London, UK - call 0171 6134141
Sat Sep. 18th - Sun 26th , 1999 - 11th Bristol Juggling and Circus Skills Convention, UK - ask Mark or Charlie.
And then, sometime in late September or early October (but definitely not clashing with Bristol) you will probably find there is a convention on in Cambridge. More details when we've…er… organised something. Any ideas or offers of help please see Gill.