With over 20 years of touring the world, The Circus of Horrorsreturn to Newbury with a brand new show, performed with a forked tongue firmly in each cheek. We find out from Dr. Haze himself what is in store...
For anyone unfamiliar with the Circus of Horrors what is it and what can audiences expect to see?
The Circus of Horrorsis an alternative rock'n'roll circus, it combines great live rock music with amazing circus acts, some never before seen in the UK and are all performed with a forked tongue firmly in each cheek.
Where did the idea for the Circus of the Horrors come from?
I was born & bred in the circus but there were only traditional circuses in those days but I defiantly had sawdust running through my veins. I grew up in the 70's and became a huge of T-Rex, Marc Bolan was a huge influence on me & music in the 70's was amazing, there were the Glam Rock acts; Bolan, Bowie, The Sweet, Alice Cooper, Slade plus artists like Rod Strewart, Elton John & Queen and on the heavier stuff like Led Zeplin, Black Sabath, Deep Purple etc. The 70s took a dip in the middle with the Disco stuff but came back with a bang with the punks.
In addition to the circus & music the other thing that changed was the Horror movies, suddenly you had the Exorcist, Carrie, Texas Chainsaw Massacre etc. All of those influenced me and it was this mixture that gave me the idea of The Circus of Horrors.
What’s the most daring stunt in the show?
The show has so many 'edge of your seat' moments in it from Sword Swallowers swallowing everything from a curved cutlass to a lit neon tube, an Axe throwing & Crossbow firing ultra Diva, Sinister Arieliste, a sting man, whirlwind acrobats & someone who flies around the arena suspended only by there hair. It's so hard to pick the most daring from all of those!
What was it like to perform on Britain’s Got Talent?
Britain's Got Talent (BGT) was certainly an experience, for 7 years they had been trying to get me to go on the show, one winter I received a email asking me who the media contact was on the Circus of Horrors and I thought someone might want to do a documentary so gave them my number, the next day they called me and said it was BGT- They'd got me & persuaded me to do it.
We were already an established act so we were putting a lot on the line. They gave us great comments such as 'That's what I call entertainment' David Hasselhoff & 'I loved it', Simon Cowell and to this day we are the only Circus ever to reach the finals of BGT & were seen by 35 million people.
What are you most looking forward to about returning to Newbury?
Newbury, a lovely little town that I am very much looking forward to visiting, the Corn Exchange is one of the smaller venues that we perform in so people will see these great acts that they would only normally see on TV, live in front of their eyes. If you consider there are only 80 sword swallowers in the world so to see one right in front of you is amazing!
Circus of Horrors is at the Corn Exchange on Wed 24 Oct. Find out more
