South Korea to start socially distant drive-in circus for safe entertainment amid COVID-19

On September 20, the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture announced that it will host the socially distant drive-in Seoul Circus Festival from September 25 to October 11 at Oil Tank Culture Park in Mapo, western Seoul, South Korea. Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the circus authorities said that the event would be held with the audience sitting in their cars at the parking to watch the event rather than the usual tents for the spectators, according to the official reservation website. 

The event, which is held annually in May, was earlier postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic as the state health safety guidelines prohibited the public assembly with the onslaught of cases of COVID-19. The show was reported to have been postponed twice, but eventually sold tickets for the month’s end for a drive-in event. 

“Circus Caravan is a 'Drive in Circus' that restricts contact between audiences by entering, viewing, and leaving while the audience is in a vehicle so that they can safely watch the performance in the Corona 19 situation,” the organisers wrote on the booking portal. 

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Divided into two separate events, first The Circus Caravan would be held which will consist of the performances such as the juggling, mime, aerial acts, among many others for the audience. The first part will be conducted from September 25 to October 4. Furthermore, the next part of the circus titled Circus Cabaret will host an additional online exhibition and the combination of the traditional, modern, and contemporary circus performances. This part will be hosted only on the weekends, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 1 pm onwards to 8:30 pm. At least 74 performances will be held on the stage in open space for the public view.

With online streaming

Manager of the Seoul Street Art Creation Center, Cho Beong-hee, reportedly said that the circus drafted new plans and different ideas to conduct the artistic performances without posing the public health risks amid the coronavirus pandemic. Since many successful drive-in events have been conducted worldwide in the pandemic era, the company came up with the idea to organize the drive-in circus event for the audience along with online streaming. As many as 30 vehicles will be given the parking space to watch each performance. There will be rentals option available for those who do not own cars, he added, in state-run media reports. The vehicle reservations were to be made in advance on the circus’ website (booking.naver.com/booking/5/bizes/401446?area=bni). The tickets were free of cost. 

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(Images Credit: Circus caravan website)