A few days ago in Abakhan I picked up this little leaflet...
Which lead me to this website, which ended with me purchasing two cheap opening night tickets. Tonight was opening night.
I was a little wary, but excited. I've seen a lot of circus acts recently, at the circuses I've been to and on tv and things. Circuses are in at the moment apparently. I'm also quite a cynical person by nature, so I'm wary. As we pulled into Trentham Gardens I got disappointed that there was no big top. A circus is not a proper circus without a big top. Then GKL took a left and said, "what? Like that one?"
(note: picture taken on the way out, it was not that dark when we got there)
At first all I could do was complain. The seats were built up so that none of the numbers were in any kind of order, they had the apostrophe missing from the big sign over the curtains the entertainers came from, the seats were bloody uncomfortable. And when the show started I wasn't overly impressed either. That starter bit where they get everyone in the ring was too cluttered and too hectic and badly organised. And the trapeze artist they started off with was kinda mediocre. I've seen better.
Then they had a little girl 8th generation horse trainer, who did some choreography with a beautiful palomino and a little shetland. GKL quite rightly pointed out that if it hadn't been the little girl controlling them, it would have been lame, but I was kinda focused on the beautiful horses. More about them later.
The in-between clowns weren't all that great either. They were ok for a minute or two, but dragged on far too long.
However, the show wasn't a complete bust. I saw my first ever highwire artists. These two brothers. The Marinhos. They ruled. No harnesses or anything. One of them did a little jig along the wire, the other rode a bike. One somersaulted over his brother's head, on a hire wire, with no harness, in mid air. It was great! They did a balancing on shoulders act which they preceeded with a "fall". If they hadn't been playing "The Show Must Go On" I might have believed it. It was very well acted. Talk about wedgie though. Ouch.
Anyway, they impressed me. A lot. I was also incredibly impressed by the horses. 8th generation trainer's dad came on in the second half with 4 palomino horses. Beautiful horses. Here's some pictures from the website...
These horses were magnificent. Four of them, with stupid names - Omega, Cartier, Rolex and Bronze - but absolutely beautiful. They reignited a passion in me, which I'll mention in my next post. They were gorgeous. I don't think I'm quite getting across how wonderful these horses were, lol.
On the way to the circus I'd mentioned to GKL that I'd always wanted to go to one of those old-fashioned circus that used animals. And that maybe I'd have to go to somewhere in Eastern Europe to see lions and tigers and elephants and stuff being mistreated. This circus had animals. Not just the horses, but the ringmaster did an act with budgies. Much funnier than it sounds. He had them going up little slides and jumping onto display cases and things. I was impressed at how well trained they were, but when they "misbehaved" it got even funnier. He got all of the little birdies to slide down this mini slide one by one, and the last one didn't want to get back on his perch afterwards, he kept running back around and doing it again. I thought it was quite funny. GKL was more enamoured with the teeny little boy standing on a ringside seat who was applauding ecstatically every time the little bird ran away. It was very cute.
Overall, despite some boring parts with the well-meaning clowns, I was quite impressed with Zippo's Circus. For 6 quid it was definitely worth the money, and lots more. Even the £2 candyfloss was worth it... scrummy.
It was a good night out, and I enjoyed it. I think GKL did too.
I may go again next time they're back. Those horses can't be guarded 24/7.
PS> For any animal rights activists out there, the horses are treated superbly. There is a page about it on their website. Apparently they've won awards.
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