Chicago Reader: The gracefulness and power of circus lends itself well to fables and superhero tales, so when Little Red was announced as the annually anticipated Winter Circus at the Actors Gymnasium, I knew the presentation was likely to be epic, in the fairy-tale sense and the circus sense.
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Fairytales lend themselves really well to theatre! Just like how people in ancient Greece would have gone to plays already familiar with the characters and their stories (Oedipus, for example, starts in media res and assumes the audience already has some context for the story), most people are already familiar with stories like little re riding hood. This allows the creative team to save a lot of time worldbuilding and skip straight to the action—it’s what allows Into the Woods to move at the pace it does without the audience becoming confused. Because we already know Cinderella runs away from the ball, Sondheim doesn’t have to spend anytime telling us. I’m sure the same is true of Little Red as part of the Winter Circus at the Actors Gymnasium: the actors take the original plot and subvert it, as Kimberly Campbell explains, “The twist arises when Little Red and the wolf turn out to be shape-shifters that possess circus bodies to tell the tale. Each performer is in turn compelled to enact Little Red Riding Hood’s plot mostly through their circus actions .” Overall, I think this production sounds really exciting and I can’t wait to see how it turns out.
I love a good circus adaptation! Circus is such a unique section of the performing arts and when paired with the storytelling of theater can make a profound impact on audiences. This past year I had the opportunity to volunteer for a production of Dual Reality, a circus adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, where the two households both alike in dignity duel it out in a variety of circus challenges. Interspersed with movement pieces, shakespearean text and swanky music this was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Most unforgettable moment was the fateful party where the young lovers met. The two families converged on each other in a chess-like movement towards center stage where various tableaus of love and lust break out culminating in Romeo and Juliet’s eyes meeting. A ballet of dual tricks and tender moments ensues, eventually forming a beautiful stage picture of the lovers reaching out towards each other (almost hoovering parallel to the floor) pulled apart by their families.
There are many different retellings of Little Red Riding Hood, one of my personal favorites is in the show ONCE Upon a Time. Little Red Riding Hood’s story has its origins in cautionary tales but it has expanded to encompass more than just a warning to children. The way that different creatives rework the story from being a gruesome tale of childhood innocence leading to tragedy into different levels of representations of female empowerment. I have never seen a circus adaptation of a classic tale. I love the spectacle of circus even if I have never seen it in person. The addition of folk music really brings me back to some of the first telling of the story and how it was most likely started as a cautionary folk tale about trusting strangers. The ability to tell the tale through fluid movement and a fluid casting of the principles is a fun way to see the story in a new light.
This article originally caught my eye from the picture. I love the vibrancy of the red and in general the composition of the photo. I didn’t even realize there were other people in the red silks until I took a further look after I had read the article. I don’t think I’ve heard of a circus show thats not Cirque du Solei in a long long time. I always feel like circus shows have to have insane budget and a huge grand concept, however this article reminded me how thats not necessarily true. I was also curious to see how they added to the fable as in truth the fable is quite short and I feel stretching it to be a full show would take some finesse. I like how they added the fact that little red and the wolf were actually shape-shfters and performers. It feels very meta and still spooky, calling upon the original brothers grimm fairy tales.
I absolutely love when fairytale stories are adapted into other forms of art and this sounds like a truly unique way to tell the story of a little red riding hood in a way that I’ve never considered before. I can’t say I have too much experience in response to circus acts or even circuses in general as I’ve never been to one before but I have seen that the are works of immense skills and lots of technical know how so an act such as this one must of been extremely impressive to see and it has peaked my interest in seeing a circus act a bit especially one that has a story as I think it’s a good way to tell a story in a way other than dialogue ( before this I never knew circus acts could have stories I thought they we’re just performances of impressive shows of skills and cool visual effects)
I am SUCH a huge fan of the combination of theatrical storytelling and circus performance. There was a production of Alice in Wonderland that I saw in Chicago a few years back (Lookingglass Alice) that combined the story with a lot of very impressive Circus stunts, and it absolutely blew my mind. There is definitely a line to be tread when incorporating the two so that you don't lose track of the purpose of the story and just start doing things to look cool, but when you can successfully balance the two, the impressiveness of the stunts can enhance the story beautifully. Costumes for this must have been interesting- as someone who has primarily done costuming work for traditional theatre and not had to worry about how costumes would work within the scope of very mobile and intense stunts, I have to say I would be completely out of my depth for a show like that. Reading the summary for this show and the way the choreography works to physically tell the story reminds me a lot of ballet. I wish I could see it.
I have never been a huge fan of circus performances. They are cool, don’t get me wrong, but I am the kind of person who relies on dialogue in order to interpret a story, and interpretive dance and the like have never been the easiest for me to follow. I saw Circ De Solei once, when I was in LA visiting USC last year, and all the tricks and components were incredibly cool, but I could not tell you even a smidge of the story they were trying to tell. I think it's really interesting and awesome when people are able to not only interpret, but choreograph a conventional story into something told entirely through movement, even though I have never been able to interpret them. To me, circus performances are just really in-depth talent shows, and I love looking into all the mechanics that it took to make the tricks happen, especially the safety precautions. But the idea of incorporating theatrical storytelling into it, while amazing, is not for me.
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