The Great Moscow Circus currently performing in Nelson might have to house stranded overseas performers in its performance tent.
The circus has made changes in order to continue for now, for the sake of the overseas performers in particular. Photo: 123RF
The Cambridge-based touring company of the New Zealand franchise is currently in Nelson, where it intended to perform reduced capacity shows until Sunday.
Tour manager Marie Webber said the rest of the planned South Island tour had now been postponed, and the circus would make its way back to its North Island base on Sunday.
Webber said it planned to stage shows for smaller audiences on the way, to help support the performers before they arrived back in Cambridge where they would be cared for until they could return home.
She said about half of the circus' 50 crew were from overseas - some of whom had young families travelling with them, and who were now stranded in New Zealand due to travel restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
"We've got a lot of overseas performers. They don't have somewhere to go and they can't fly home.
"For us it's not just a matter of us looking after ourselves - we have a lot of overseas artists that need a place to stay."
Webber said the circus was prepared to look after them, and housing them in the tent was an option.
"Yes, absolutely. It will be a matter of getting back to the North Island as we have a base in Cambridge. We still want to continue bringing entertainment to people through this time - people are still wanting to come to watch entertainment."
Webber said precautions had been made to endure public safety for the remainder of the scheduled shows in Nelson, and for those planned in the North Island.
"We've pulled out every second row so people aren't sitting close together and we are limiting our numbers so that families can sit in a huddle three or four metres away from others."
Webber said it was a difficult situation but the circus had made changes in order to continue for now, for the sake of the overseas performers in particular.
"We have people from around the world and it's unsafe now for them to fly with their children, so for us, crossing over to the North Island and getting a bit closer to home and being able to stage shows along the way means we can still pay people so they can at least have money for food.
"It's a really hard situation for them all. It's just a terrible situation everyone's in but we're battling on, and as they say, 'the show must go on'."
Webber said the company planned to resume the rest of the South Island tour at a later date.
