BARNUM: Running Away With The Circus!

I've run away with the circus!' How exactly do I relay back to my mum what my life has become? Well, it's certainly not your humdrum '9 to 5'. Life with Barnum has been nothing short of overwhelming. It is, and I think I can speak on behalf of the cast, the MOST ambitious, tiring, gratifying, terrifying yet amazing experience we've ever had.

We've finally landed in beautiful Chichester, greeted by unbelievably glorious (who knows how the show would of turned out had it been raining solidly) weather. We've battled through an everchanging set of previews. We've drilled, nipped, tucked, chipped, changed, explored and reexplored, all the while flipping, juggling and dancing with fire coming out of our noses (you'll have to come to see if I'm telling the truth!). And finally, we've had a brilliant opening night graced with an amazingly supportive and raucous audience. Roll up, we are now open for business!

I don't think I could ever imagine getting to this point from all those weeks ago. However, in order to try and give you the best insight, I shall try to tell our story (heavily abridged) up to this point.

Personally, Barnum greeted me with a good ol' dose of reality. Cast assembled, in late March we began 'circus training'. This was a crash course aimed to introduce us to the basics of various circus skills: rope, juggling, trapeze, whip-cracking, stilt-walking etc. These first circus baby steps were also acting as an assessment, a gauge for our creatives to see the varying levels of ability and breadth of weird and wonderful talents that could then be harnessed into one big beautiful show. We workshopped loads of ideas, all aimed around how the group as one collective ensemble could conjure up Barnum's world. All the while tinged with an element of circus danger, a group of people were now COMPLETELY dependent on one another. Train stations, ships, blazing fires, museums - creative energy was bouncing off the walls! Give us a couple of plastic rods, some bedsheets and some gaffa tape, you will then see before your eyes in one hour's time, 'Jumbo, the largest elephant on earth'.

A less willing person would find this whole experience extremely intimidating and cringeworthy. I can't stress how much it relies on trust in the group you're working with. This all may sound a bit like a 'trust and leadership' workshop for corporate 'away days', but it fits completely for the world Barnum lives in. It's a world in which 'brass and a bit of humbug' has the possibilities to suspend disbelief, to lift people out of the browns and greys of everyday life. And we, as his ensemble are the 'riggers of his imagination', who create these scenarios and fit into our characters accordingly to tell HIS story. I get it, I'll give in, give me that rod, I WILL be part of the elephant's trunk.

The physical strain was almost immediate. Aches, pains and strains galore, we learnt very early on that this was not a show in which you could be found partying in Soho the night before. We left our training days a mixture of beacons of positivity and excitement and absolute nervous wrecks. Personally, I swung between the two. The game was now on. With a month before rehearsals starting officially in London, we had a better insight into what would be required of us. It was up to us now, along with a lovely workout regime devised by our Circus Consultant, Vicki Amedume, to get the job done!

Look out for my next blog in which I hope to give an in-depth look into our pre-show regime here in beautiful Chichester, the journey from studio to stage, and the involvement of THE man himself, Sir Cameron Mackintosh.

Oh, and in the meantime, COME SEE BARNUM AT Chichester Festival Theatre!

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