Gandey World Class Productions

The Salieri International Circus Awards THE COMBINATION OF CLASSICAL MUSIC AND CIRCUS ARTS The Salieri International Circus Awards  is a prestigious circus festival where more than 50 international artists compete against each other accompanied by a live symphony orchestra. The festival is dedicated to the musician Antonio Salieri who was born in Legnago and to whom the city has dedicated its theatre  The Salieri Theatre .  The history of the Salieri Theatre begins in the early twentieth century. It was finally inaugurated in1956 and for over thirty years its programme has always been full of theatrical performances, as well as being used as a cinema. It was then refurbished in 1999 and used as a theatre ever since. Carol Gandey was invited for the second time to be a member of an international all female jury for The Salieri Circus Festival based in Legnago (near Verona) which is also the birthplace of Salieri, a well-known composer.  Artists were judged and awarded...

What better way to spend a Saturday afternoon with family than going to the circus! We were lucky enough to be invited to Europe’s largest touring show – Gandeys Circus on the Forest Recreation Ground . This was our first indoor show since Covid and so I was a little bit nervous before and during the show. It was strange to be sitting so close to people you don’t know in an indoor setting but the amazing show took my mind off it and I really enjoyed it. We were met and shown to our seats by Ringmaster Ryan who was an active participant in the show and announced all the acts. The atmosphere inside the Big Top was great. You could buy popcorn, candy floss, other food and also hand held light-up toys. The show started with a musical number to get the crowd going and some acrobatics to wow the audience. I have to say that some of the acts really made me nervous, especially the motorbikes in the Thunderdrome cage and the neck spin of the roller-skating Duo Eclipse. There were also lots o...

   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 Ci...

We've finally come to the end of our touring season and what a year it's been! Our Gandeys cast have been rather busy touring the UK, including another summer at Butlins and bringing The Greatest Halloween Spooktacular back to Dudley. Meanwhile, Cirque Surreal made a grand return to the big top at Manchester's INTU Trafford Centre with a weirdly, wonderful show. It's safe to say, we've had a jam-packed year and we've loved every second of it! In honour of the end of another spectacular year of touring, here are just some of the highlights of our 2019. Photo credit: Pop Studios    Gandeys Circus Back at Butlins We made another return to Butlins Minehead, Bognor Regis and Skegness and what an amazing summer we had! One particular highlight of ours was when Chico Rico made his directorial debut in 'A day in the life of a clown' for International Clown Week. If you haven't seen Chico's first feature yet we suggest you grab the popco...

Gandey World Class Productions has celebrated over a century of entertaining audiences with spectacular shows like Gandeys Circus and Cirque Surreal - both currently enjoying runs in Dudley and the intu Trafford Centre respectively until 3rd November. But paving the way for the Gandey success story, for more than four decades Philip Astley managed and performed in the world’s first modern circus. In this week's blog, we find out some interesting facts from Karl Shaw , who lives in Astley's hometown Newcastle-under-Lyme, and is the author of 'The First Showman', set to be published later this month...  An artist's impression of Philip Astley, the founder of modern circus.  Q: Tell us about Astley's claim to fame as the founder of the modern circus and original 'showman'... A: Before the big tops, a hundred years before P.T. Barnum sold a ticket, Philip Astley was the world’s original circus mogul, a natural born showman with an eye for eve...

Today on the Gandeys World Class Productions blog, we're taking the opportunity to celebrate birthday of Andrew Van Buren; performer, showman and member of circus history. To mark this special occasion, we're giving you a further insight into the colourful and remarkable history of British circus! Andrew Van Buren is known for using highly visual circus skills How British circus began English equestrian Philip Astley created performances and tricks surrounding horses based in a 42-foot diameter ring, now the universally known circus ring. Originally from Newcastle-Under-Lyme, his hometown now pays tribute to the circus creator in the form of The Phillip Astley Project  which has educated the public through talks, workshops and exhibitions, on his life and work. Now, you can find bespoke circus-themed sculptures in honour of Philip Astley in his birth town. Gandey's circus director, Carol Gandey, with some of the cast Fred Van Buren Known as an illus...

To celebrate Gandey's circus returning to Butlins Minehead, Skegness and Bognor Regis this year, we've decided to give you an opportunity to sit down, grab a brew and find out the answers to all the things you've wanted to know about our wonderful cast! Have you ever been itching to know the pre-show ritual of a circus performer? Or desperate to discover their favourite sandwich filler? Ever wondered how a clown gets into the circus? Well all your questions will be answered right here on the Gandey World Class Productions blog! This week we'd like to introduce you to Camila - one of our trapeze artists! 1.            Full name  Camila Palma Aguirre - trapeze artiste 2.            Home town/ city/ country         Santiago de Chile. 3.            What prev...