We wandered into Rimski’s Yard at the top of Glebeland in the Theatre & Circus fields unsure what to expect having had Rimski and his partner Handkerchief described to us as ‘indescribable.’ We arrive just as their evening variety show ‘An Evening with Rimski & Handkerchief’ is beginning, Rimski on Rimski on his bicycle piano, Handkerchief on her bassicle – a double bass that has been mounted to a bicycle by Rimski.
They move through the crowd as they play vaudeville-style tunes, the crowd shifting as they come close and then move away – jolting across the 360-degree performance area in front of the ramshackle stage built from panels of wood and the various outbuildings that have been created here. You can have film photograph taken, take part in the tombolo (everyone is a winner), or take a peek at Rimski & Handkerchief’s living area.
From there we meet a host of talents, comprered by the absurdist comedian Chris Lynham who says he’s ‘not comparing nothing.’ Yann Elvis, who we saw earlier that day, performs with his diablo in less windy conditions while Em Puddy, an assistant director at Giffords Circus, performs a fairground routine.
There’s more vaudeville music from the wonderful Old Time Rags with their banjo, double bass, washboard and drums, as well as some twelve-bar blues followed by Daniel Gonzales’ mime act is a hit. Holy Rose performs an aerial rope show backed by the night’s house band, the Dead Horse Band, while another performer takes also to the sky for an acrobatic show. You feel like anything can and will happen in this immersive environment that sends you back to another time and another world.
An Evening with Rimski & Handkerchief is at Glastonbury Festival 2024, running from 26 to 30 June
