Guia Cultural da Costa Verde

Angra dos Reis • Angra dos Reis

QUINTAL DO CIRCO

Taking enchantment wherever it goes

Quintal do Circo was founded eight years ago by Luciano Araújo – Pamonha the Clown – and is a great success wherever it goes. Luciano has participated in several groups and studied at Escola Nacional de Circo, where he developed talents that had become apparent earlier, and also learned on his own to ride a monocycle and walk on stilts.

The circus can settle down almost anywhere due to the fantastic inventions by Luciano, who built everything in collapsible kits: a 60-place grandstand assembled in half an hour, a modest circus ring, a bistro that serves, pão de queijo, water and soft drinks, and a small shop that sells t-shirts, jugglers’ pins, and books on theater and circus. In his performances, he also uses an incredible tricycle, all of this stored in a van that he himself designed. When it is not possible to put on a show, he exhibits Charlie Chaplin films. Only Pamonha the Clown goes on stage but the group has a couple of sound and light technicians as well as the script writer and producer Márcia Brasil.

The performance includes circus numbers, juggling, balancing on stilts and on the monocycle, magicians and interactive games with the audience. At first Pamonha kept silent, until one day a child inquired from Luciano if he was dumb, which encouraged him to include speech in the script. Performances are held in the street, in squares and even in distant villages, they last roughly one hour and there is no charge. In the end a hat is passed around for those who wish to contribute.

Jointly with all these activities, Luciano works in the Angra dos Reis town theater as a technician in scenic mechanics, and is much sought after by other artists to create scenery and special technical devices.

Quintal do Circo captivates all age groups and the founder’s great satisfaction is being able to bring happiness to his public. He explained that he was once hugged by a child at the end of a performance who said “this was the most beautiful thing that I’ve seen in my life,” and this is priceless!

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