Interview: Hannah Cox and Angus MacKechnie on Jacksons Lane

For over 50 years, Jacksons Lane has been at the heart of north London’s artistic community. Red Bus Londinium speak to joint leaders Hannah Cox and Angus MacKechnie about the venue’s next chapter, the future of contemporary circus and the vital role arts and culture play in bringing communities together.

Red Bus: Jacksons Lane opened in 1975 as a community centre and is now the home of contemporary circus. What do you most want to protect about that story, and where would you like to take it next?

Hannah Cox: What I most want to protect is the belief that culture belongs to everyone. Jacksons Lane began because local people saw a need in their local community and came together to build a space which could create tangible change. Everyone was welcome, whether to be part of youth programmes, run their own community initiatives, or play basketball in the ‘Sports Hall’ (now our beautiful Studio 1 space!). Fifty years later, that same spirit of participation, creativity and collective action still feels incredibly relevant.

What I really love about Jacksons Lane is that we’re both deeply rooted in our local community and a home for the incredibly exciting artform of circus. On any given day you might find a local resident coming to a choir rehearsal, young people taking part in a circus class and artists from across the world creating work under the same roof.

Looking ahead, I’m excited for us to build even stronger connections between those different groups. Bold and unexpected ideas often emerge when artists, audiences and community members meet and inspire one another. Jacksons Lane has always been a place where people come together through creativity, and I think there’s still huge potential to build on that.

Angus MacKechnie: I love that Jacksons Lane was created by local people who wanted to make something happen in their community and fifty years later, we’re still here in this wonderful building, doing all sorts of things that its original founders probably couldn’t have imagined but with the same tenacity that made those original dreams come to life.

And I like the unlikely combination of a neighbourhood arts centre in Highgate that’s also welcoming some of the world’s most exciting circus artists. There are people who’ve been coming here for decades alongside artists arriving from the other side of the world.

I’d like to build on all that, creating more opportunities for artists to make work, encouraging people to discover something new and finding ways for all the different people who use Jacksons Lane to connect with one another. We are already making some of those connections and there’s much more we could do.

Red Bus: If someone thinks circus means big tops and sequins, how would you describe what they would see at Jacksons Lane? And what does the wider theatre sector tend to miss about the art form?

Angus: Firstly, let me be clear, I like a big top and a few sequins! And contemporary circus doesn’t need to turn its back on those traditions. But what excites me is how artists take remarkable physical skills (acrobatics, aerial, juggling, hand-balance) and use them to create work that can be theatrical, poetic, funny, political, intimate or completely chaotic.

We opened our autumn season with By a Thread, by the Australian company One Fell Swoop. Seven performers, a huge length of rope and fifty minutes of astonishing physical invention. It was breathtaking, funny, moving and intimate. You’re watching these incredible physical feats, but what stays with you is the connection between the performers, the trust and the humanity.

And then you might see a solo performer telling a deeply personal story through acrobatics or aerial or anarchic juggling. That’s one of the joys of contemporary circus; such a large physical vocabulary mixed with original ideas and personalities, so it always comes out differently.

I do think the wider theatre and dance world sometimes still sees circus primarily as spectacle, rather than recognising its artistic depth and ambition. It’s encouraging when circus takes its place in programmes at venues like the Southbank Centre, Sadler’s Wells or The Place, but I’d like to see it programmed much more widely. Across Europe, circus is a recognised part of the cultural landscape, with dedicated venues, festivals and production networks. I’d like to see the UK catch up. Circus deserves the same recognition, visibility and investment as other performing arts, and the UK is some way from achieving that.

Red Bus: Your Summer Circus Hub residencies end with £1 previews of work in development. What do artists most need from a venue to make bold new work?

Angus: Artists need time, space, trust and, bluntly, money. We can offer the first three, but the fourth remains the bigger challenge. Without proper financial support, the best ideas can struggle to become finished productions and artists can’t build sustainable professional careers. I look at the European models of circus support with envy, where the artform has a much more established place within cultural funding, dedicated creation centres and touring networks. We simply don’t have that infrastructure or level of investment in the UK. We’d like Jacksons Lane to help pioneer a different approach, demonstrating what’s possible and making the case for wider investment.

What I enjoyed about our Summer Circus Hub was seeing the building being used so explicitly as a place to create and experiment, not just somewhere to present a finished show. Artists were working in the studios, sharing ideas, watching each other’s work and having conversations in the bar. There was a great sense of the creative community over those weeks.

The £1 previews were a chance to invite audiences into that process. There’s something marvellous, and rather privileged, about seeing a piece of work when it’s still finding its feet. Artists need the freedom to take risks, try things that might not work and occasionally fail spectacularly. That’s all part of making something new.

Having spent much of my career producing new work, I know those early stages can be both exhilarating and frustrating. We want Jacksons Lane to be somewhere artists can return to as their ideas develop, and where we can help them find the people, partnerships and opportunities to take things further. From emerging artists finding their voice to established figures exploring new directions, we’d like to support artists throughout their creative journeys. But with appropriate funding behind them.

Red Bus: You are a national home for an art form and also a building on Archway Road with neighbours on its doorstep. How do you balance the two?

Hannah: I think the balance comes from recognising that these aren’t competing priorities. In many ways, they strengthen one another. Being rooted in a community makes us a better home for artists, because they’re creating work in a building that’s full of life and different perspectives. Equally, having world-class artists working here gives local people opportunities to experience and engage with an artform they might not otherwise encounter.

Some of the most memorable moments happen when those worlds overlap. An artist sharing their work with community participants, a local family discovering contemporary circus for the first time, or an audience member striking up a conversation with a performer in the bar after a show. We’re incredibly proud to be a national home for circus, but we’re equally proud to be a local venue. For me, the real magic happens when those identities come together.

Angus: We absolutely celebrate the fact that these things all happen in the same building. One of my favourite experiences since arriving was watching a contemporary circus performance alongside some of our older community participants and hearing their responses afterwards. They were new to contemporary circus and brought completely different perspectives to the work.

We’re actively looking at ways to make more of those connections, with artists getting to know the people who use the building and local audiences becoming curious about the work being made and presented here. Sometimes those encounters happen naturally and sometimes we need to give them a little encouragement. Next month we’re bringing some of our community participants to experience opera for the first time, and I have no idea how that’s going to go.

Red Bus: With Jacksons Juniors now launched and circus workshops going into primary schools, what can circus give a child or a grandparent that other art forms can’t?

Angus: I’m unashamedly promiscuous in my cultural tastes, so I wouldn’t claim circus has the monopoly on anything. But as a participatory activity it really is unrivalled. There’s something wonderful about learning a physical circus skill you didn’t think you could do. Whether you’re seven or seventy, the moment when you suddenly manage to balance, juggle or do something you couldn’t do yesterday is enormously satisfying. It involves such a mixture of determination, playfulness and collaboration. You might spend ages trying to master something and, usually, you need someone else to help you do it. I’m increasingly interested in circus as something people can enjoy throughout their lives. We tend to think about children discovering circus, but there’s no reason someone in their eighties shouldn’t be discovering new skills or even performing… watch this space.

But, of course, seeing professional circus can be just as revelatory. One of the great pleasures of our family shows is seeing children and adults put away their phones and be astonished by what’s happening in front of them. A shared moment of wonder is always the golden chalice of programming.

Hannah: Like Angus, I wouldn’t want to claim circus offers something no other artform can. It’s important that people of all ages have opportunities to experience a wide range of creative work. What circus does have, though, is a remarkable ability to bring people together.

There’s an immediacy to it. You don’t need prior knowledge to be wowed by the spectacle or drawn in by the storytelling. It’s hugely accessible, and we regularly see audiences of all ages sharing that sense of excitement, tension and joy that comes from watching someone do something a little bit impossible.

The same is true in our participation work. Children, young people and older adults all explore juggling, acro-balance, hula hooping and more. Part of the joy of circus is that it’s wonderfully playful. It encourages experimentation, risk-taking and laughter. ‘Mistakes’ are all part of the fun and the process. That makes it an incredibly powerful tool in community settings.

We talk a lot about lifelong relationships with creativity at Jacksons Lane, and circus is an artform that genuinely invites people in at every stage of life.

For more information about Jacksons Lane and its year-round programme, visit www.jacksonslane.org.uk.

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