The new Circus of Horrors show is a celebration of the last 25 years and will include an amazing collection of weird and wonderful acts, all to the back drop of a rock n roll soundtrack. This show promises to deliver a spectacular like no other. Be prepared to be entertained and enthralled and to laugh through the fear!
This is a circus like no other and a show you simply can’t afford to miss, whether you are a rock fan or theatre-goer, the Circus of Horrors has something for everyone.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Doktor Haze the Ringmaster and creator of Circus of Horrors
This is your 25th anniversary – so what can we expect?
It’s a huge alternative rock and roll circus, it mixes dare devil and bizarre circus acts, some freaky things and some things that you would see in Cirque du Soleil, all mixed with live rock music and all performed with a forked tongue firmly in each cheek!
Is the rock music something we will recognise?
It’s mainly original and hopefully you will recognise it, as we’ve had 4 albums from this show over the 25 years. It’s a very unique show as its blends all of these different aspects together and nobody else has ever done that before, it’s very unusual and we are very proud to have been doing this for over 25 years.
You were born into a traditional circus life yourself, is that why you’ve taken it into a new direction?
That’s part of the reason. I was born and bred into the circus, I grew up in the 70’s and during that period I became very much into music and a massive T-Rex fan, Marc Boland, David Bowie and Alice Cooper, there were so many great songs and great bands from around that period. Fantastic type of music where superstars had been created Rod Stewart, Elton John and Queen, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath – all of these came out of the 70’s, so its quite remarkable really, then Punk towards the end of it.
The same time as this I was growing up in the circus and horror movies had begun to change. We had gone from Dracula, Frankenstein, and Hammer House type of films to The Exorcist, Carrie and The Omen, so they all took a more serious and sinister take on horror. Texas Chainsaw massacre was the first of the slasher films really and that was out in the 70’s. So, you had all this different stuff as I was growing up with all of this, going to watch these movies (far too young to watch them, but going to watch them!), Clockwork Orange another one from that period. I would see these and they all influenced me really, when I left the circus, around 1979 I decided to have a go at rock and roll. So I left and joined a band, but the bands were always theatrical because of my theatrical upbringing and eventually it all morphed into the Circus of Horrors. A few years later and we were playing rock clubs and university’s and then took the giant leap to do Glastonbury one year.
That was 25 years ago in 1995 and we didn’t know if it would last 25 weeks! 25 years later, here we are, still at it!
Still wowing the crowds and I think what we have done is taken the extreme to the mainstream. When we first started doing TV shows we were on shows after the 9pm watershed.
Then we started getting on to Don’t Try This at Home and Britain’s Got Talent and suddenly we were playing to a mainstream audience so that the underground, extreme audience we had had suddenly became a mainstream audience, so there was a lot more of them. It went to prove that people like the alternative and they like something a bit different and why not? Life’s all about variety! If you have a bit of fun which is what we do – we use a negative word like horror and turn it into a positive word. People go out of the show singing the songs and really enjoying what they’ve seen and laughing!
You’re the creator and Ringmaster of the show, do you do your own act too?
I’m a singer song writer, Ringmaster and I do a few illusions. As a 12 year old in the circus I was a fire eater and I am still a fire eater to this day!
You have a real variety of acts are you constantly on the lookout for new talent?
They come to us, nearly every day we get someone applying for a job in the circus, whether they are circus performers who have been in the circus for years, or there’s somebody who’s seen the show and thought “there’s something I’d like to do there” and every so often you turn out a gem and find someone who’s really talented.
It’s the age old adage – Run away and join the circus – that happens as much today as it ever has done.
What’s your favourite act?
Oh I couldn’t pick a favourite, I’d get killed!
We don’t do a lot of individual acts, its all one big amalgamation. The show starts and then 45 minutes later is the end of the first act and there’s not been a gap, it just keeps pounding away and keeps going so all the acts merge into one another. You’ll get a Sword swallower swallowing swords, or a leg of a chair or a cutlass and then a girl swinging around the auditorium suspended only by her hair, then other beautiful aerialists in the same style as Cirque du Soleil – fantastic acrobats skipping over burning ropes or limboing under flames – so a whole load of things – a non-stop barrage!
If you can’t give me your favourite act, what’s the most dangerous act?
Sword swallowing is very dangerous and the only accidents we have had have been the sword swallowing. He’s swallowed swords that are a bit too wide for him, so we’ve had a couple of occasions where we’ve had issues like that but generally we check everything and do risk assessments before hand – so we eliminate as many risks as we possibly can.
We try and make it edge of the seat stuff but we also try and make it as safe as possible!
You warn of adult language and nudity, so no children then?
We don’t encourage kids to come, but sometimes parents will think its ok for my 12 year old to come, and we leave that up to them, but we don’t recommend it for under 16’s.
You can see some stuff on EastEnders a lot more violent than you would at Circus of Horrors, but we still don’t encourage kids to come.
You have broken multiple world records, do you have any more in the pipeline?
Not yet, but no doubt we will think of some. You’re quite right we’ve got records for the largest human mobile, a guy pulling a 3.5t truck over 100m with nothing more than two hooks in his back and girl pulling a van solely by her hair, the most amount of naked people on a roller coaster and the biggest pie fight, so there’s loads of them!
Thank you for taking the time to speak with me and I’ll leave my children at home and look forward to seeing Circus of Horrors!
Expect the unexpected!
Tickets are selling fast so contact the Wyvern Theatre and book your tickets for Tuesday 21st of January Ticket office 01793 524481 or online www.swindontheatres.co.uk
