Piddly by name, but not piddly by nature. Central (South) London is treated to all the circus classics for less than a sandwich and a coffee at Pret.Summary
Rating
Excellent
I have an odd relationship with circuses. There is something in the sweat-stained sequins, gasoline reek mixed with popcorn and undeniable talent that has always tightened my collar. Yet I hate animals forced to perform, dislike children within hollering distance and try to stay as central as possible within our great capital. Still, I have trekked under flyovers and out onto freezing commons in search of my big topped love.
So imagine my excitement when I saw on my walk through South London an advertisement for a Zone One experience, peeking out from an already peeling poster. Millennium Green is an odd often forgotten park just across from the Old Vic. The fact that the tent takes up a lot of it says nothing about the size of the tent. We line up on a slight incline and watch as someone high-wires from the very pinnacle, and a woman falls into a massive bag of candy floss. So far so good.
Children shriek (I wince) as the entrance is flung open and inwards we go. Sam Goodburn is the piddly beating heart – sorry, the beating heart of Piddly. Looking like Where’s Wally?, Goodburn does an admirable job of distracting us from the fact that for about 80% of the show it is just him. He juggles, chuckles, and throws custard creams at the audience. He tightropes (shakily) and unicycles at various heights (regular and grande). His charm is in the acknowledged rubbishness of everything. The seats are wooden and precariously slanted, zip-tied together, the big top stained and drooping (but able to hold Goodburn as he slides down the outside). He is everything: ringleader, clown, juggler, comic and confidante (ok not the last one but you know how I love alliteration). Battling with overzealous cherubim and their stroppy parents, he’s a little like a deeply underpaid, massively over-skilled party entertainer with a gig of almost 100 little angels.
Yes, there is the British art of public humiliation but no tar and feathering here. Along with the run-of-the-mill “look at this awkward human on stage, hahaha let’s laugh so much we snort” we have some impressive unicycle-hoisting of a very uncomfortable-looking woman and some devilishly ineffective comedy at the hands of a scowling father. All funny unless it’s you being kicked while wearing a jester’s cap.
Yet (thankfully) he is not alone. We have two lovely female assistants, one (Rosa Autio) juggling soft silver pancake-like things instead of plates and the other doing a sparkly-swimsuit hula hoop act. Tom Goddard provides a sax solo and throws rose petals at an even pinker looking father of two. A nice break for Goodman but not really stand-alone acts.
There is a back story also which is certainly not minute. Both performer (Sam Goodburn) and producer (Sam Morley) met while building a (bigger) circus tent. Hatching a plan, and with a combination of a tent from the Czech Republic and a seating bank from France, lots of scrimping and saving, their dream was born. Now on their first UK tour they are set to take the capital, or at least Waterloo, by storm.
Flaming batons, swinging chainsaws and if that’s not enough it’s right next to a pub! What more could you want? Bring your swarming brood and madden them with sweets, or take your braying pals and madden them with beers. If value for money was a show, this would be it, pipe-down Circus Maximus, here squeaks Circus Piddilus!
Produced by: Sam Morley
Crew: Jack Jennings, Ross Fraser
Circus Piddly plays at Waterloo Millennium Green until Saturday 15 June, with further UK dates currently booking throughout June and July.
