Review – Jay Miller’s Circus – Uckfield and Tour

When people talk about a family show they are usually talking about a production that is suitable for all, but Jay Miller’s Circus takes that idea and flips it on it’s head, as their family show is a circus that features almost all of their incredibly talented family as performers – together with some superb acts from Europe alongside them.

Returning to host the 2015 Reunited Tour is Ringmaster Ross Farrer. A firm favourite with the crowd, he opens the show with an old fashioned song and dance number, Big Spender from Sweet Charity, joined by the Jay Miller Showgirls.

Each year, as he unveils his new production, Jay Miller strives to bring new and unusual acts to the circus ring and Valeriy, the Chinese Mask Manipulator,is just such an act. Totally unique and extremely clever, the act leaves many in the audience open mouthed as they try to figure out the intricacies of his spellbinding performance.

Our first encounter with Peppi the Clown is, as so often happens in circus, a wet one. His way of cleaning the circus ring is, to say the least, unorthodox and, for those in the direct “line of fire”, extremely wet indeed. He is followed by a wonderefully cute act which features a 9 foot tall Polar Bear with a love for all things disco!

More unusual and unique acts follow in the form of Duo Storm, who defy gravity and most of the laws of physics to present their Extreme Unicycling act, Miss Paige Miller who, following a quick visit from Olaf the Snowman from Frozen, rises high above the ring to present her beautiful and sublime Cube Aerialist act to the sound of “Let It Go” (luckily she doesn’t) and Miss Jodi Miller who also dazzles with her Silver Thread tightrope performance.

The first half ends with some traditional juggling skills as demonstrated by Csonger Zeitler before, during a packed interval, children are face-painted, popcorn and candy floss are available, the little ones can meet and have a photo taken with Olaf and there’s even a raffle.

The second half begins with the first appearance by Troupe Enfermo from Hungary. The four boys costumes are Village People YMCA style, the music is classic party disco and the act provides a superb opening and takes the fun level right to the top before Peppi returns to show us his plate spinning act.

More feats of strength skill and dexterity follow as Miss Monika presents her hand balancing act, Miss Zsofia takes to the skies with another aerial performance and the Duo Vakal perform their, simply stunning, quick change act.

For the final act the Enfermo Troupe return with, for the first time in the UK, their amazing acrobatic performance. It would be impossible to do justice to their act in words, as it is quite breathtaking and extremely exciting, but what I can say is that Szilard Sulyok-Pal, Lenard Matos and Matyas Milnar work extremely hard throughout the act with a very special mention going to Zoltan Gardonyi, the fourth member of the troupe, who bravely performs a flying double somersault as the highlight of their act.

The traditional circus finale features all of the performers in a rousing singalong as they all take their, well deserved, bows and, having worked so terrifically hard for 2 hours, they bask in the applause from their, very appreciative and satisfied, audience.

Four Stars              ****