It’s lights, camera, action for Peter Wickham! Well, mostly lights – although sometimes he’s also part of the action in OVO, a magical Cirque du Soleil spectacle of a boisterous and buzzy insect world.
The Canadian senior ran away with the Cirque 27 years ago and leads an extraordinary nomadic life as a lighting technician and backup clown for Master Flipo in the OVO show, running in Toronto ’til June 28, at The Pavilion (2150 Lake Shore Blvd. W.).
It’s rare to work both on stage and backstage for a Cirque show and, actually, to be travelling with the theatrical company at his age, doing his lighting job alongside those many years younger. A job like no other!
“Besides us and rock stars, no one has the type of jobs that we do! Getting paid to travel all around the world. It’s a pretty unique lifestyle,” says Wickham, 62, who heads out to Ottawa next for the July 2-6 run at the Canadian Tire Centre.
Travel to a New City Every Week
Cast and crew travel the globe, sometimes a new city every week – generally they’re on the road for 10 weeks straight, then they all get two weeks off. “So overall, we travel to 40 different cities or countries every year!” Wickham tells Custodia.
Peter Wickham works as a lighting technician for Cirque du Soleil show OVO.
“To have our lifestyle, I believe you need to be a bit of a chameleon, meaning that we can adapt to many situations, any place. I feel more like an earthlink inhabitant – earth is my home, and I feel it’s home anywhere I go!” says Wickham.
Perpetually living out of a suitcase is not for the faint of heart – nor is the hard work. Some days these road warriors have three full performances. And “loading in and loading out” in each city are feats of athleticism!
It takes about 12 hours to set up the show in an arena and about 3-4 hours to tear it down. Moving OVO requires 23 trucks to travel from city to city, loaded with more than 700 roadcases filled with costumes, props and equipment, including bleachers, 130 moving lights and 100 surround-sound speakers.
Loves Being Master Flipo on Stage
In each new city, sometimes even across an ocean, the show is built back together and it’s show time again! Wickham loves being on the move, discovering new places and cultures, and meeting new people. But he especially loves being Master Flipo, which he has been doing since 2018, performing in many countries including Spain, Egypt, Kuwait, Brazil, Argentina and France. He’ll head back to Spain and Portugal later this year.
Peter Wickham is also backup clown for Master Flipo in OVO.
“I play Master Flipo usually once a month. I just love being on stage as a clown and make people laugh and make people happy. Before joining the circus, I was an amateur comedian and I worked as a clown at the Just For Laughs Museum for two years.”
There’s no end in sight to circus life and no retirement plans. “I’d love to be a clown fulltime… who knows what the future has for me. I want to be with OVO until it closes,” along with doing lots of travelling.
“Travelling is in my blood, it’s in my DNA. Even when I’m off the road back home, I’ll travel a bit every week. I have difficulty staying in one place,” says Wickham, whose permanent home is in Quebec, close to his mom, where he likes to keep busy with home maintenance and reno projects.
KISS is Music to His Ears
Wickham’s career offers the perfect formula for vibrant living and healthy aging – lots of physical activity, healthy eating, novel experiences, exciting places and connecting with new people, having a hobby, along with a strong social community of friends and family.
Cirque is his family – “one big, happy family. There are people that you really like, and others that you spend a bit less time with… but it’s a big nice family. We all get along. To have this type of lifestyle, we all kind of have the same kind of mind.”
And his hobby? “Everybody knows me as a KISS fan – I’ve been a fan since the age of 12 and I still listen to KISS almost every day. I’m a big, crazy KISS fan!”
Wickham regularly attends rock concerts and heavy metal concerts: “I’m going to continue to do that as long as I can, until the day that I die, because music is my passion!”
For Wickham, life is a wonderful circus and he’s enjoying the show and all the high notes, bringing light and laughs to people’s lives through Cirque’s illuminating magic.
