Before Monday evening’s Flotsam! River Circus began, founder and organizer Jason Webley introduced his show to the audience seated in lawn chairs and blankets on the downtown boat ramp with this:
“We are a river circus. There are not many river circuses.”
To be sure, it was a spectacle that many Hendersonians had never seen—a ramshackle watercraft that doubles as stage pulled up on the downtown boat ramp—and something this town may not see in the future, at least not anytime soon.
As the audience gathered, many said they didn’t know what to expect, lured to the event by social media posts and perhaps some word of mouth.
“I’m just coming down here to see what this is all about,” was a common response before the show.
The Flotsam! River Circus began in 2019, and every year the troupe of performers travels down a different river, pulling in to river towns and cities along the way to set up for a night or two of performances.
Monday night’s performance in Henderson was Flotsam!’s 100th show, and according to the group’s website, its 35th this summer, a tour which began Aug. 16 in Pittsburgh.
Also in his introduction, Webley advised the audience to “forget about your troubles.”
“But more than forgetting about your troubles, forget that you’re a human being.” Instead he asked the crowd to think like a fish, more specifically an invasive mutant fish, and that the future world the show was set in was one in which humans are struggling, but life as a fish is grand.
And he told spectators the language the fish use—“Wah-Duh-Dah!”—a phrasing a part of the script and a chorus for the rest of the evening that many of the children in the audience sang back with glee.
The show was filled with performers who danced and performed acrobatics, some magic, loads of physical comedy, all of it accompanied by an upbeat soundtrack so catchy you swore you’d heard before. Performers played drums, trumpet, violin, tuba and the accordion. One hula-hooped six, seven, maybe eight hoops at a time, and another balanced a boot atop a small platform under a long pole that was held steady on a six- or eight-inch mouthpiece.
No one knew what to expect and yet, the show met all expectations.
The craft’s next stop is Galconda, Ill., where the troupe will rehearse for a few days after losing several performers, who Webley said were flying out to move on to other opportunities. After regrouping, the troupe will perform a Friday evening show in Galconda, before its final two shows of the summer in Paducah on Saturday and Sunday.
Webley said the troupe will hit the Erie Canal next summer for the 150th anniversary of the waterway.
For more information, go to rivercircus.com
