A show at the sharp end

Sarah Stead • Published 9 Jan 2010 09:00 0 Comments

The circus from hell is about to roll into town. SARAH STEAD warns you what to expect...

IF EVER a show needed to carry a 'do not try this at home' warning, this is it.

Last January Dr Haze's Circus Of Horrors shocked, appalled and thrilled the town, including several members of The Chronicle team.

We sat transfixed at The Hexagon as all manner of weird, wonderful, sometimes disgusting and always unbelievable things took place before our eyes.

From unfeasibly stretchy skin to gravity-defying hula hoops, on-stage piercings and varying levels of mock violence - all dramatised and set to a soundtrack that Meatloaf could have written - the show had it all.

So it is with baited breath that we welcome the circus back to town later this month.

This time around, ringleader Dr Haze and his troupe of miscreants are celebrating 15 years of businesss with their new show The Day Of The Dead.

Set in Mexico during the early 1900s, the cast of chaosmongers transport the 'body' of Dr Haze to a remote area of the country, beginning with a funeral cavalcade through decrepit streets.

But unbeknown to them they have settled in a former burial ground of Aztec warriors.

There, they join the locals' 'Day Of The Dead' rituals in an attempt to revive their deceased leader. Of course there are disastrous consequences.

In an Aztec temple, witch doctors, voodoo acrobats, 'pickled people', demon dwarfs, and flying vampires erupt, chained, from a tank of blood to perform their amazing spine-shivering stunts.

If last year's show is anything to go by then this collection of bizarre and grotesque party tricks and circus acts will stun, amuse and possibly horrify you. You have been warned.

WIN tickets to the circus - see this week's Reading Chronicle.

The Circus Of Horrors - The Day Of The Dead is at The Hexagon on Monday, January 18. See www.readingarts.com or call 0118 960 6060 to book.

The circus also visits the Beck Theatre, Hayes on Saturday, March 20.

See www.becktheatre.org.uk or call 0208 561 8371.

Find out more - if you dare - at www.circusofhorrors.co.uk

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This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 07 Jan 10

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