Visiting a Circus

Over Christmas I visited Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park to see two Circus shows there: Zippos Circus ‘Candyland’ and Cirque Berserk ‘Thunderbolt’. The goal of this trip was to discover more about how Circuses actually function, and what kinds of acts and performers a modern circus would have. I also thought it would be useful to see a Big Top in person to get a better idea for how big the stage was.

These shows were very entertaining, Zippos Candyland a bigger focus on the physical comedy and audience engagement, and Cirque Berserk Thunderbolt had an almost Mad Max adjacent post-apocalyptic theming, with more daring stunts like highwire balancing acts and multiple motorcycles driving around a large metal mesh sphere.

While the performances were very impressive, something I noticed was that between each act, the audiences attention would be redirected, either to a dance, a skit, or the ringmaster interacting with the audience. It seems obvious in hindsight, but that time was used to prepare the stage for the next act. I thought this was an interesting aspect of a Circus, an integral aspect that isn’t obvious and isn’t meant to be, it seems like the only part of the Circus that is not meant to be flashy and draw your attention. I had previously thought that, in my game, the set-up and performance should be completely separate modes, but this made me think that my game should mostly focus on the set up during and between performance.

The props used, like the highwire across the king polls and the ladders used in the balancing act pictured below, should inspire props that will be used in game.

This is a video I filmed of the Globe of Death act that Cirque Berserk Thunderbolt performed as the climax of their show. This could inspire my own game’s final level as a climatic act to finish the game.