Circus operation during Corona – despite pandemic full tent at Circus Knie – News
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3G obligation, a full tent and a grateful ringmaster: Géraldine Knie on the season that is coming to an end soon.
The scent of sawdust and popcorn is currently hanging over Spelteriniplatz in the city of St. Gallen. It is the sixth stop on the current knee tour, which this year will stop in significantly fewer cities than usual.
So far, the ringmaster Géraldine Knie is very satisfied with the crowd. The circus has just come from Zurich, where the performances are practically always sold out. It was similar in Geneva, Lausanne and Bern.
“So far we are happy,” says the director of the largest Swiss circus. The circus family has also got used to the new Corona rules, but so have the audience.
Full tent with 3G
The tent has around 2100 spaces. Only those who have been tested, recovered or vaccinated can get in. There is no mask requirement.
Even at the premiere at the end of July in Rapperswil-Jona, the thing with the certificate was very unusual. Géraldine Knie remembers how she thought at the time, “I want to give happiness and emotions and now we have to play cops.”
Knie addresses the control of the certificates. Even the public had little understanding for the 3G obligation at the beginning. In the meantime, however, the whole thing has become a matter of course. “It works,” said Knie.
Is normality in the circus again now, despite Corona? “Yes,” believes Géraldine Knie. Sure, the pandemic occupies the people, but they see how they would enjoy the show for two and a half hours and forget everything else. “That makes me happy that I can inspire the audience.”
The abrupt termination of the tour
Géraldine Knie is reluctant to remember last year. The knee tour was postponed at first, then it ended up only lasting seven weeks. Due to tightened corona measures, the family company with around 200 employees had to end the season prematurely after 65 performances.
“That was a huge shock,” the ringmaster Géraldine Knie recalls today. It literally pulled the ground from under everyone’s feet. Such situations have also been seen how quickly such a situation can melt away reserves.
But now it is important to look ahead. The ringmaster is optimistic: “We have to be grateful and happy that things are going this way now, and that our audience is so faithful to us.” The Knie circus will be on the road until January. The end of the season is planned for Lugano.