Student launches circus show with a twist

'Aylmers Circus' opens later and will run for five shows

A university student who ran off to join the circus as a teenager is staging a production that unites theatre with circus.

Harvey Aylmer's show opens at the Cotswold Playhouse in Stroud later and will run over the weekend.

'Aylmers Circus' combines "theatrical romance" with acrobatics, a contortionist, hand balancer, and other artists.

"I'm so excited to bring circus to theatre, which is a new aspect. Usually with a circus, you think of a big top and wagons, but I wanted to take a different approach to it," he said.

Harvey Aylmer stands with the cast he found through friends and classes he attended

This is not the first time Mr Aylmer has taken a production to the stage.

In February, he produced a play called 'The Ringmaster', which was inspired by his passion for circuses.

His latest show follows the story of a man who dreams of becoming a clown, when he stumbles upon a letter from a forgotten ballerina, which takes him to the Kingdom of Dreams.

Mr Aylmer said: "I want to inspire the next generation of dreamers, basically, that you can do anything you want, if you put your mind to it."

'Inspired by music'

As a young child, he staged shows in his garden for his friends before joining Giffords Circus at the age of 16.

Mr Aylmer now studies theatre production at Bath Spa University, which is where he honed the ideas for this production.

"The scenes play out in my head before I write it. I get very inspired by music and I dream of the acts and it all fits into place like that.

"It's a really magical experience when you spend months behind a laptop typing and writing everything... to see everything come together under the lights, with the costume and the singing," he said.

Rebecca Plume has been performing for 20 years

Rebecca Plume is one of the performers tasked with bringing Mr Aylmer's vision to life.

She said: "It's a real honour [being invited to perform] because I met Harvey a year ago and we were working in another circus, 'Fool's Delight'.

"He was talking about it then, suddenly a year later, here we are. It feels really organic and special."

'Aylmers Circus' will play five shows over the course of three days at the Cotswold Playhouse.