GUANTANAMO CIRCUS
An intrepid band of Circus performers organized by
Robert (Count Smokula) Miles journeyed to the Caribbean in search of
adventure. Little did they know
the impact that performing in a land seemingly stuck in the 1950s would have on
each of them.
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| Photo Courtesy Guantanamo Gazette |
The 2013 documentary produced by Christina Linhardt and
Michael Rose chronicles the lives of a handful of variety arts performers as
they find their way to Cuba… well, Cuba adjacent, as Guantanamo Bay is United
States soil on the edge of a land that we are still not much connected to. The strange arrangement of detaining
suspected terrorists is only the tip of the iceberg that most of us prefer to
stay a bit ignorant of. The
prison, Delta Camp, is actually the main reason that Americans are deployed
there. We seldom stop to think that they have families, children, lives off duty that
need attention, as well as the damnable responsibility to oversee ‘suspects’ who are not
arrestees, but detainees who languish in the harshest conditions in one of the
most beautiful and undeveloped regions on Earth.
The opportunity to send the Vamphear Circus to entertain the
troops and their families appeared to Miles via an acquaintance who was
familiar with booking entertainment for Guantanamo. After a major search, he found a group of artists who agreed
to hit the road for a one week tour. (Imagine Gilligan’s theme song here.)
MC’d by Miles (Count Smokula) on accordion in bizarre clown
makeup, the circus came to town featuring Balloon Man: Hillel, grinder
babe/arialist: Brandy Wirtz, juggler/reluctant producer: Philip Solomon and the
gorgeous opera singing clown, Christina Linhardt. Working basically as installation artists, the troupe prepared
a major outdoor venue with seating for thousands. A special crane was commandeered for Brandy’s high flying
act featuring her climbing sixty feet up long silken banners. There were only two performances and
the audience reception was extraordinary.
Stock footage from the US Government and marginal video shot
by Hillel on a cell phone combine with other images shot by the cast to create
a bizarre memory of how the joy of circus intertwines with the very real
situation that is ongoing at Guantanamo Bay. Individual interviews with the participants paint a picture
of these professional performers now totally out of their own comfort zones
having to deal with entertaining the US Military and their families practically
a stone’s throw from the most notorious prison in the world.
Most disturbing was an account of meeting a young woman
US Navy guard who was fresh from boot camp, ready to serve. A woman monitoring Muslim men is
volatile right off the bat. Within
a week, she was reported to have been the victim of a “Number Five Cocktail” consisting
of every bodily refuse that one can imagine. To hear sprite-like Christina
Linhardt’s checking off the list of “spit, snot, piss, poop and cum” is
shocking and at once shows the contrast between the average Americans pressed
into duty at Guantanamo and their lives that require education, entertainment
and basic human needs.
Selected for a documentary festival later in the year, GUANTANAMO
CIRCUS’s accounting of life ‘on the road’ for these gallant performers, is
beautifully edited with music from Linhardt’s personal work and the
dedicated spirits of each of the performers.
Variety arts is such a special area of entertainment. Hillel’s trapped balloon sketch
comments on the political issues of the prison, while the great good humor of
Solomon’s getting participants on stage to hula hoop and Miles’s being swamped
by dozens of kids happy to be on stage for a sing along is wonderful. Sadly, the requirement for the show to
be G Rated, disallowed the naked body painting with Linhardt as the canvas.
Producers are hopeful for a paid public airing. Please leave a comment here if you have a connection to
make that happen. It deserves to be seen.
GUANTANAMO CIRCUS (2013)
Produced and Directed by
Christina Linhardt and Michael Rose
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