Circus

Earlier this year I was faced with a chance to go camping. I’m not a natural camper but I said yes out of a spirit of trying something new. It was awful.

More recently we decided to go to a circus. This is something else I’ve avoided so far. Clowns don’t scare me but they, along with white-face mimes, make me uneasy. The use of animals in circuses also put me off.

Unlike camping though, this was a success. We took the children and arrived in a field to find a tent encircled by beautiful old fashioned vans and trailers.

 

There was a mobile pizza parlour serving up delicious food and a pre-show entertainment to introduce you to the evening’s story. This wasn’t just a random series of acts but a thoughtful narrative played out through the acts. That’s a bit grand but fairly close to what I experienced. And yes there were animals: one goose (on stage for about a minute), a chicken (two minutes) and a horse, happily running around for just a few minutes. I later found out this circus has an excellent reputation for animal welfare.

The evening flew by (literally in the case of the acrobats) and amazingly even the children stayed focussed and entertained for the full two hours. I haven’t experienced such a fun evening out in years.

 

It’s also worth mentioned the music. Original music played by real musicians who also formed part of the entertainment in other ways. In some parts of the evening I had to crane my neck around to watch the musicians because their playing was so good they were distracting me from the action in the ring. This is where you can find the circus we went to. I highly recommend them.