Each year, when Zippos Circus national tour stops off in Hove, the audience faithfully return to see what new thrills and skills are on display and what supremely dangerous acts will be performing and, in the 2015 production, OMG!, they are treated to some top class entertainment.
After watching the “March of Lights”, where motorcycles, quad bikes, horses and the entire circus company welcome us, the Zulu Warriors make their way into the traditional sawdust ring, and wow the audience with their superb acrobatics and, from this brilliant and very special opening, right the way through to the finale, when the Lucius Team of motorbike riders amaze everyone in their “Globe of Terror” routine, the whole show is packed with the very best that circus has to offer.
Whether it is Stephanie performing her incredible aerial act beneath an large umbrella, Odka the contortionist from Outer Mongolia, Salvatore with his dynamite diablos or even Mr Nadler with his wonderfully cheeky dog, Speedy, the first half of the show is a slick, quick change, smorgasbord of acts highlighting the strength, flexibilty and coordination that, with years of training, it is possible to achieve.
Also in the first half, the musical clown family act, The Rastellis, show off their first, very funny act. Since they first appeared in the UK, back in 1934, The Rastellis have found worldwide fame with their truly unique clown act – one that really shows how much hard work it takes to be funny!
To close the first half the German pair, Duo Galaxy, perform on the “Wheel of Death” and, as was evident from the squirms of the audience, it’s title is very appropriate. As the wheel spins faster and faster the tricks get more and more complicated until it is really possible that serious injury, or worse, would only take one very slight slip up.
The second half gives many of the stars of the first half an opportunity to return and show off yet more of their incredible talents and they are joined by Kremena, with her hand-balancing act, Summer with the Zippos Arabian Stallions and, of course, Ringmaster Norman Barrett MBE with his terrifically popular budgie act.
For its sheer spectacle value, one of the main highlights in the show has to be the aforementioned “Globe of Terror” which closes the show. The metal globe seems almost too small for one motorbike never mind adding three more.
The Lucius Team take their act to dazzling new heights when, not only do they enlist the help of a very brave woman who stands in the globe as two motorbikes zoom overhead and all around her, but they also manage to squeeze four motorbikes into the, relatively, small globe, with them all circling at the same time – as the globe opens up into two separate halves!
This show is everything you could hope for in a circus. It is, at times, death defying, amazing and totally crazy but, above all, it is just fantastic. A very traditional circus, but with a nod towards the more modern, a real treat that the whole family will enjoy and, with the world’s greatest ringmaster Norman Barrett, who is fast approaching the age of 80, at the helm, a real must-see show.
Five Stars *****