UK's 'smallest tented circus' debuts new show

Sam Morley (l) and Sam Goodburn (r) founded Circus Piddly, "a comedy circus"

A new circus with just one performer has debuted, with a self-described "mission to bring back silliness".

Circus Piddly, billed as the UK’s smallest tented circus, opened in Chippenham on Friday.

Producer Sam Morley, from Calne, and performer Sam Goodburn, from Bournemouth, said they had said to themselves: "We should found our own circus; how hard can it be?"

Mr Morley said it slowly became an actual thing, although "slightly by accident".

The show features high wire, a 12ft unicycle, juggling, and comedy performed in a custom tent that seats about 300 people.

"That's the idea to have a really small tent, so the audience is never more than eight meters away from the stage," Mr Morley said.

"You can still get enough people in there to get a fantastic atmosphere."

Mr Goodburn said he became obsessed with unicycling as a teenager and won the prestigious UK Youth Juggling Competition and UK Freestyle Unicycling Competition.

"I wanted to make a circus that put comedy at the centre of the show," he said.

"We will make you laugh whatever age you are."

Sam Goodburn has been unicycling since he was a teenager

Mr Morley said: "Getting to do something right close to where I've grown up is just fantastic."

"We wanted to bring something new to circus in the UK, a lot of mainstream entertainment ends up being pretty serious," he added.

"Whereas with a circus you are slightly free of that, to just be silly - that's the point of the show."

But running a circus comes with its challenges as a two-man outfit.

"There's never enough time to do anything," Mr Morley said.

"There's so much admin, marketing, producing, and there's 200 pages of health and safety documentation for the circus."

Circus Piddly runs until Sunday on Westmead Playing Fields in Chippenham.