While I am abroad, I made it one of my goals to see a European circus and just last week, I discovered that Zippo's Circus, one of the main English circuses, was playing in the London area. On top of that, the Circus Friends Association was holding a rally on Saturday. I emailed the contact person for the event and later that day got a phone call asking if I was going to attend, and I said yes.After a somewhat complex journey by bus and rail, I arrived at the circus and was quickly introduced to several of the circus fans. I also met Norman Barrett, MBE, who is the ringmaster for the show, and who had been told I was coming.
The show opened with a good wheel act, in which the guy got quite close to the top of the tent. He also did a very brief bit of jump roping and walked part of it blindfolded.
After that was a short pony act, where they just marched two ponies through an obstacle course. This was followed by an enjoyable jar juggling act.
This was followed by a cloud swing act that was quite good.
The next act was a very good liberty act, in which they did some things very creative things with the horses running across the ring rather than just around the ring.
The next act was a hand balancing act, and all the tricks were the usual ones, and the presentation was slow for me. But that was followed by what was perhaps the highlight of the show when Norman Barrett presented his Budgies, or small birds. While small birds don't provide a lot of action like a larger animal can, it was all in Norman Barrett's energetic presentation of the act that made it spectacular.
This was followed by a very good juggling act, which, while not doing a high number of objects, the presentation was excellent.
This was followed by an acrobat performing in a strange clear plastic ball that was suspended from the top of the tent. Up next was a quick rolla-bolla act.
This was followed by a very good balancing act, and while some of the poses were the standard ones, they pair did do some creative stuff.
Then it was time for the finale, which was an excellent high wire act. This time the tricks were good and the presentation was excellent. Highlights of the act was one walker jumping over the other one while he was laying down on the wire. and one walker stood on the other's shoulders while they walked across the wire.
That was the end of the show, which overall was very good and would probably be one of the better one-ring shows in America. The major downside of the show was the pacing at times was too slow. To make it a really spectacular show, the pace would need to be livened up, which could be aided by live music, and some better costumes and technical aspects. Even still, it was a very enjoyable show.
After the show, they had a buffet dinner for the fans and show people which was very nice because I got to chat with several fans and show people.
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