Flotsam River Circus floats into the region with a string of waterfront performances in early September.
Here’s the backstory of Flotsam River Circus: At the end of the world, a ramshackle raft floats down a river. The humans on the boat don’t necessarily like each other, but they tolerate each other. It’s hard not to, when they’re fighting against the constant threat of mutant fish. This year, on the bicentennial of the Erie Canal, Flotsam River Circus is traveling from Buffalo to New York City and performing at waterfront locations from Hudson to Beacon in early September.
Jason Webley, a 51-year-old former traveling musician, created the Flotsam River Circus in 2019. The shows consist of live music, acrobatics, dancing, clowning, and acting. Performers are dressed as fish and sailors, hula hooping with ring buoys or being hung from fishing lines. The troup will be at the Hudson waterfront September 1, with aditional performances down the shore through September 14 nearly every day.
Photo by Paul Kahl.
“[The circus] is a confluence of my history of touring, my fascination with rivers, my knowing about and being inspired by other weird floating acts, and happening to know a bunch of amazing performers that are willing to drop what they’re doing and come float away for the better part of two months with me,” says Webley.
Webley built a 33-foot long raft and became determined to create a show out of it. Although Webley had no prior experience in circus acts, he met many circus performers on his travels, and recruited them for his river circus. Today, the circus is composed of a dozen performers drawn from as far away as Taiwan and Brazil.
“When we first started, the whole thing was a guerilla operation, because what we were doing was so unusual,” says Webley. “I went and found the locations and posted them online and hoped an audience would come, and that no one would shut us down. And, amazingly, it worked.”
Now, Flotsam is a nonprofit. They rely on donations and volunteers to stay afloat. Despite the organizations greater stability and success, Webley misses the punk rock early days of the circus. Each location that the circus travels to involves contacting multiple agencies in order to make the show a reality. “This year has been so stressful. There has been so much more bureaucracy,” says Webley. “I’m trusting that when I get out there, that I’ll remember that I really love doing this, but for me, it’s actually pretty constantly stressful.”
Photo by Paul Kahl.
Unless they’re offered a place to stay, the performers eat and sleep on the raft or the troupe’s support bus. To keep the performers clean and fed in close quarters isn’t easy, and the fragility of the boat is a constant source of anxiety. But the boat is also what makes the show special. There’s no backstage, and all of the performers are visible at all times. They’re bound to the waterways, so they’re forced to find the best locations connected to them. Viewers experience the novelty of watching from a riverbank instead of a classic circus tent.
“I think it makes the bits of stagecraft feel a bit more magic,” says Webley. “There’s something that happens with our limited means and the handmade quality of everything that resonates in this specific way.”
The Flotsam River Circus performance schedule in the region is as follows: September 1 at Henry Hudson Riverfront Park in Hudson, 6:30pm; September 2 at Tina Chorvas Riverfront Park in Saugerties, 6:30pm; September 3 at Kingston Point Beach, 6:30pm; September 4 at location TBA in Poughkeepsie, 6pm; September 5 at location TBA in Beacon, 6pm. Performances are free but donations of $10 to $25 are encouraged.