'The circus’s job is always to bring joy, and that is absolutely what we are doing this year.' We were delighted to catch up with Lil Rice at the end of May. Lil made her Giffords Circus debut back in 2011, but more recently she has taken the reins of the circus from her beloved aunt Nell, who passed away in 2019. Giffords is back on stage with this year's show, The Hooley, which promises a spellbinding evening of Celtic magic produced by Lil herself.
Q: So, this year's show is well underway. How is it going and how are you feeling?
A: It’s going really well! We’ve had a really good reception and really good reviews so far. We’ve had full audiences, as much as that is possible with social distancing and a reduced capacity. It’s been great but it’s been very wet… we've had two weeks of rain!
Q: The circus as a concept goes back a long way and there are so many examples all over the world. What do you think defines Giffords and makes it different from the rest?
A: I think we are actually as traditional as a circus gets in many ways. Although, lots of UK circuses now don’t have horses and domestic animals in them because of the way it's gone with animal rights. That’s one of the things we’ve really pushed – to keep domestic animals in the show. Another thing that sets us apart from other circuses is that we have a very strong theatrical theme. We have a big script and we have characters, rather than people just coming in and doing their acts. We also do all the costumes ourselves and change people’s acts. In a lot of circuses, people will arrive with their own music and their own costumes and that will all be put together. We do all that here; we put new music to their acts, we redesign their costumes, we give them new characters.
Nell asked me years ago, when she first got ill, to come and live with her just in case... I think she knew really - better than any of us - what was going to happen.
Q: We have to mention the enormous legacy of your aunt, Nell, who started Giffords. Do you feel her there with you on stage and do you feel pressure to do it justice?
A: Oh… yes. Before I’m about to go on and do a horse number, I feel her there with me very strongly. I do feel a huge amount of pressure to do that new act at a later age. I’m doing that for Nell because she ran the horse department and it's now my responsibility. I’ve had to learn how to do that in two years so that I can keep the horse element in the show going without her. I feel a huge amount of pressure, but it’s also a huge honour. Nell asked me years ago, when she first got ill, to come and live with her just in case. I obviously didn’t think she was being serious at that point, but I think she knew really - better than any of us - what was going to happen.
Q: Do you get nervous before you perform?
A: I don’t know, I don’t get too nervous, but as a performer, I think it’s quite odd if you don’t get nervous at all because that adds to the energy on stage. I don’t get sort of cripplingly nervous anymore. I used to, to the point of bargaining with whoever’s up there before I was due to go on, saying ‘please let there be a storm, a hurricane!' But I don’t feel that anymore, I think maybe the pressure of producing too has meant that performing is just a joy now. The producing is the scary part – the responsibility of that.
The circus has always been a place you can go to to escape the world, to escape the mundane, to escape the normal and usual routine.
Q: What's your personal favourite act in this year's show?
A: Ah… well there are two. First of all, the duo hoop men who are in the show. I think they are so unbelievably beautiful and it was incredibly brave, brilliant, and ground-breaking from Cal to have that male relationship in a show in rural Gloucestershire. (Cal McCrystal directs the show). It's also got to be Nancy’s hoop act because I feel Nell’s presence very clearly at this moment in the show. Nancy’s been doing it for years and Nell always loved it. So yes, the hoop boys and Nancy’s hoop act are my top moments really!
Q: As we emerge out of a very weird period worldwide and you take the Giffords baton as it were, what do you feel the role of the circus should be in our lives now and in the future?
I think the circus has always been a place you can go to to escape the world, to escape the mundane, to escape the normal and usual routine. Coming out of Covid, that is especially needed! What Cal and the whole team have done is created a completely magical world where you can go and escape and not have to live in the Covid apocalyptic world that it feels like at the moment. The circus’s job is always to bring joy, and that is absolutely what we are doing this year.
Q: Do you enjoy being based in Stroud? Are you at home in the countryside?
A: I absolutely love the countryside. I grew up in Norfolk and Nell was always trying to make me move to Stroud. I then lived in London... I’ve lived all over, Glasgow, Oxford - all over the place. Stroud is definitely where I feel most at home other than Norfolk. It’s a lovely place, everyone’s friendly, there are amazing markets and it has a great community feel.
I was told a lot along the way that I was too old, that I had started too late, that I was never going to be quite good enough to make it anywhere… I'm glad that has turned out to be wrong!
Q: You might assume that anyone involved in the circus is naturally an extrovert. Does that apply to you, or is the Giffords Lil different to your off-stage self?
A: No… no, I am an extrovert through and through. I can’t sit still, I have to be doing. I am quite bossy and very noisy. What Cal does amazingly is he brings out people’s true characteristics. Circus artists aren’t necessarily actors, so he finds the nuances and extremes in people’s own real characters and preys on those. He has done that with me since 2019 as well as this year. I am definitely quite a lot like what you see in this show. Also, if you’re doing a dangerous trick you do have to kind of slip out of character to concentrate!
Q: It’s so impressive that you have taken on all of this responsibility and are doing such a great job. What are you most proud of?
A: Ah, I don’t know. Prior to this, I feel most proud that I stuck to doing circus. I was told a lot along the way that I was too old, that I had started too late, that I was never going to be quite good enough to make it anywhere… I'm glad that has turned out to be wrong! I’m really proud of myself for pushing through that but I’m also really grateful to Nell who kept pushing me. She was the one that said ‘go on, off you go to the circus, you’ll be really good at this.’ So yeah, I owe a lot to Nell and to my mum.
I so want to talk to Nell about everything, so I'd LOVE to have dinner with her right now.
Q: So, except for the return of the circus of course, what are you most looking forward to in this post-lockdown world?
Honestly, I’m most looking forward to having a dinner party or a house party and being able to have my friends round! I love hosting people. I’ve had a very nice time with my boyfriend Dave, and one of our best friends Ols Halas who is the Giffords chef, in the circus restaurant. I’m bored of bubbles now though and most looking forward to going to parties!!
Q: On that note, who would be your dream dinner party guest?
That is a really good question. I mean at the moment, it would be Nell. I so want to talk to her about everything, so I’d LOVE to have dinner with her right now.
Book your tickets for The Hooley on the Giffords website.
You can read all of our Q&As over on L-Shaped.