Two obituaries.
Bolton carried circus in a case
STEPHEN BEVIS
211 words
19 July 2006
The West Australian
METRO
35
English
© 2006, West Australian Newspapers Limited
Reg Bolton, the man who carried an entire circus in his suitcase, has died while taking his show to the far-flung reaches of the State.
Recognised internationally for helping revive circus as a community art through his Suitcase Circus, Bolton taught clowning, juggling, acrobatics and more to adults and children for more than 30 years.
British-born Bolton, 60, had been due to perform at the Kununurra Show at the weekend but died in his sleep on Friday night in the Kimberley town.
He originally trained as a teacher and ran community arts programs in Britain. His failure to get through to difficult students led him to try circus.
In 1985, he moved to Perth with his wife, theatre performer and mime artist Annie Stainer, whom he met as a student at Warwick University where Australian feminist icon Germaine Greer was his teacher.
In 1987, he set a world record by running a WA marathon while juggling three balls continuously for 3 hours, 45 minutes and 50 seconds.
He taught in schools and lectured in street theatre and circus arts at the WA Academy of Performing Arts for 14 years. He is survived by his widow, son Jo and daughter Sophie.
Obituaries: Reg Bolton: Clowning showman who took new circus round the world
Tina Glover
640 words
26 July 2006
The Guardian
33
English
© Copyright 2006. The Guardian. All rights reserved.
Clowning showman who took new circus round the world
Reg Bolton, who has died aged 60, was a clown, teacher, director, actor and writer. He pioneered the concept of “new circus” when the days of the traditional large-scale tented circus were over, describing himself as “an enthusiast who became enthusiastic about the possibilities of using circus for education, self-fulfilment and community development”. He was full of hope for the future of the circus and how circus skills could change the lives of young people.
Born in Margate, Reg read English and European literature at Warwick, where he met and later married the dancer, mime and clown Annie Stainer, forming a lifetime creative partnership of award-winning work for and with her and their two children, Jo and Sophie. In 1970 he moved to Edinburgh to become an inspirational director of the Theatre Workshop, where he developed theatre shows and projects for young people in the deprived outlying Edinburgh estates not touched by the traditional arts community or festival.
I first worked with him as one of a team of novice actors producing his punishing weekly street theatre shows in dreadful conditions, often clearing glass from streets under hails of stones, but gradually winning over suspicious children and community leaders. He continuously produced new shows, usually based on comics (he was an avid Beano reader and a perfect Dennis the Menace), with puppets, circus skills and large comic characters. He learned basic circus skills for one of the shows and, in 1975, Suitcase Circus was born. He began creating children’s circus through teaching kids basic skills, then building in them the confidence and the challenges to move forward.
Following a short time studying at l’Ecole Nationale du Cirque in 1977, he wrote, “It was clear I was not cut out to be a great circus star. . . my orang-utan arms would never straighten into an elegant handstand,” and decided to create his own circus school “where elegance and perfection would not be the only criteria”.
The Edinburgh summer circus school opened in 1977, and over three seasons the concept of community circus began to develop under his commitment to see “circus schools appearing all over the map”. For 10 years he travelled, taught and created clubs and youth circus festivals but the UK became too narrow for Reg’s global ambitions. The family moved to Perth, Western Australia, in 1985 and found the space, people and enthusiasm for new ideas unfettered by the English funding system of the time.
Reg toured the world performing and directing his own and family shows with Annie and their children. For 17 years he taught and directed at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and became a leader in the new circus movement developing across the world.
Supported by a library of more than 800 circus and related books, he continuously researched and shared knowledge. He wrote four seminal works, including the youth circus bible, Suitcase Circus, and, in 1987, supported by a Churchill Fellowship and the Gulbenkian Foundation, New Circus, a history of and treatise on the movement. In 2005 he completed a PhD in social circus, another first.
As honorary president of the UK National Association of Youth Circus and chair, up to the time of his death, of the Australian Circus and Physical Theatre Association, he continued to travel the world, and created more than 30 community circus groups.
He died suddenly in his sleep while working with children at the Kununurra agricultural show in the Northern Territory, doing what he did best, putting on a great show.
He is survived by Annie and his children.
Reginald Bolton, teacher, clown and pioneer, born November 13 1945; died July 14 2006