The Widow Stanton interviews Carol Gandey
Carol Gandey, circus director: Gandeys Circus and Gandey World Class Productions An inteview by The Widow Stanton Circus director Carol Gandey – of Gandeys Circus – was The Widow’s 2020 Person of the Year , chosen for her for sterling efforts to keep touring circus as a viable artform in the UK during the Covid-19 pandemic, and also for the inspirational work she undertook in securing a large grant from the Arts Recovery Fund with what it termed an “exceptional” application. She has worked in what is a male-dominated industry for 45 years. Carol chats to Liz Arratoon about the problems Gandeys faced last year during the lockdown, and its plans for 2021. The Widow Stanton: Which shows did you have running or in the pipeline? Carol Gandey: Gandeys had produced three shows pre-lockdown – we had shows in Hong Kong and Singapore, but in December 2019 word was filtering in about Wuhan. Hong Kong closed early because of it. The third show, Gandeys Circus Unbelievable Tour , started t