Tag: misc

We’ve just been to see Circus of Horrors at the Brighton Centre. Sadly, the scariest thing was the venue itself. Don’t take that the wrong way. The venue really was diabolically awful. We had seats (cheap seats, admittedly) on the right hand side of the stage. But even with cheap seats, you expect to be able to see the performance. What was nice was that there was a video screen for the highlights in case you couldn’t see the front of the stage. Sadly, the view of the screen was blocked by a large speaker stack…

It was bad enough that at the interval, they opened up another section of seating behind the main section in front of the stage and moved everybody there instead.

Needless to say, I’m going back to the box office to try and get some money back. There is no way that tickets for those seats should have been sold in the first place.

But the venue is still revolting. It’s like going in to a school assembly hall. At any minute you expect someone to come over and force you into singing Kum-Ba-Yah. And then you’ll be lectured to death by a boring man in a grey suit. Really. It’s that dismal.

But what about the circus itself? Some good bits, some bad bits. I feel that it would have been much better if it could have made its mind up as to what it actually was. Circus? Musical? Comedy? Freak show? It felt like jack of all trades, master of none.

Good: Midgets in kilts pulling vacuum cleaners around the stage with their genitals. Fire. Angle grinders. Some of the acrobatic sequences were really very good (especially when paired with Tubular Bells).

Bad: The incessant “rock” music covered up any attempt at dramatic tension. Some of the sequences felt decidely unpolished. The spotlights that shone straight into your eyes. All the deliberate musical sequences were pretty dire. The sound system was also not really that good (though that may have been the Brighton Centre).

Overall, I’m glad I went to see it. But I’d much rather see Circus Oz again if they come back to town…

I’ve just been to Komedia as part of my partner’s work’s night out. Two of the acts were OK, but Raymond & Mr Timpkins Revue were superb. A couple of guys putting words to music. Very little spoken stuff, exceedingly silly and still requiring an amount of thinking. They kept your mind racing trying to keep up with all the gags playing along, while your mouth simply carried on laughing.

In short, well worth seeing if you’re anywhere near them.

We’ve just got back from an evening at Circus Oz. Absolutely fantastic entertainment—great costumes, stunning performance and wickedly funny. If you get within a hundred miles, go and see them! And no, there were absolutely no animals. Excepting the hooman variety.

Best bits? A stunningly agile and graceful performance from Mel on the hoop. Oh, and the utterly fabulous percussion / juggling combo from Sosina. Maybe Captain Frodo going through two tennis rackets. I loved Scott doing his bmx routine. But it’s a damned hard choice to make—there wasn’t a duff part in there.

We went to see Dave Fulton as part of the Brighton Comedy Festival. His show is “We’re all Americans” and it rings true. Whilst he starts off slating our cousins across the pond, he quickly turns it around and starts biting into British people with equal ferocity. And it’s all deliciously non P.C.

I particularly liked his line on the British capacity for booze:

The English are the only people I know who drink on the train on the way to go drinking!

Definitely worth catching if he’s playing near you.