circus Archives - Raisie Bay

Back in 2013 I did a post about my trip to Blackpool that I’d won in a competition. I’d made a cake of the Blackpool Tower, out of Curly Wurlys! In that post I told how my favourite part of the trip had been our visit to the Circus in Blackpool Tower. That had been my first ever circus visit, I was so happy to be given the opportunity to go again on our holiday this year.

This year the Circus is celebrating their Silver Anniversary for the Endresz family being at the helm. Laszlo and Bubu Endrezs are the clowns of the show and provide excellent entertainment inbetween the other acts as Mooky and Mr Boo.

Photo curtesy Blackpool Tower Circus

Seats are unreserved and you choose them by the position you are in the queue to go in. Last time we had seats near the front which were amazing.

This time we were assigned seats in the wheelchair accessible area which is near the orchestra. Although the circus is set in a ring, it does appear that we were at the back. There was only one act of knife throwing/crossbow that we couldn’t see properly though. There were screens provided but often showed the action a couple of seconds later.

The show was entertaining for both children and adults, there was never a dull moment, it was full of excitement, thrills and laughs. All my kids really loved the show and were rooted in their seats, well, apart from when they were doubled over laughing at Mooky. We saw fantastic acrobats performing stunts that made you gasp, trapeze artists which perform high up to the ceiling so they are swinging before your eyes, juggling feats and amazing stunts with knives and crossbows. There is even a fair bit of audience participation. There are no animals in this circus, although they may have performed with them in the past.

At the end of the show we were treated to two amazing gymnastics performing on a disc in the middle of the stadium which had been filled with water. They got the last part a little wrong, but tried it again, which was amazing because it required incredible strength. I may even be tempted to say that they got it wrong deliberately because it certainly had us all on the edge of our seats when they tried it again, with success.

Photo curtesy Visit Lancashire

I would recommend a trip to Blackpool Circus to anyone, young or old. It’s something the whole
family can enjoy, and I promise you, you will be on the edge of your seats and enjoy a good laugh at the same show.

Disclosure: I was given tickets to the show in return for my review. All thought and opinions are my own.

I cried, I laughed, I trembled, I clapped, I watched in awe, I used my imagination to it’s fullest and then I cried again. If there is one piece of advice I could give to anyone watching the Stage Play Hetty Feather, it’s take a box of hankies. It will awaken every emotion.

Hetty Feather

Hetty Feather is a book by Jaqueline Wilson. Hetty is baby who is taken to the Foundling Hospital because her mother cannot look after her. She is then fostered out to a family in the country side and has a nice life until it’s time for her to return to the Foundling Hospital to be prepared for her future as a servant girl. She hates the hospital and vows to run away and find her real mother, who she believes to be a bare horseback rider she saw in a circus while living with her foster family. She finds her opportunity to escape when they have a very rare day out and she finds the Circus. Does she find her real mother? Is she really the circus lady? I won’t spoil the rest of the story for you but there are some scary moments ahead while Hetty searches for her mother.

The Stage Play

Sticking quite close to the book the play begins with Hetty as a baby being brought to the Foundling Hospital by her mother. There are no scene changes as such but the whole stage is set up a little like a circus ring. The floating ribbons and ropes are manouvered around to create different scenes such as the hospital, the trees in the countryside and the circus.

Apart from Hetty all the actors have several parts to play and they do it so good you barely notice that it’s the same actor playing her brother, a circus performer or even another girl in her hospital dorm.

There is a lot of action climbing the ladders and swinging from the ropes and ribbons. It’s very circus like and totally entertaining. We were all mesmerised from beginning to end.

The music complimented the play rather than taking it over. It was a vital element, but overall it didn’t really feel like a musical.

The play is aimed at children seven years or older. I took my almost seven year old and eight year old daughters along with my niece (22 yrs) We all really enjoyed the play although the youngest, Boo, was a little scared at times and Star (8) spent a lot of the show in floods of tears, the final tears were happy ones she said. I wouldn’t really recommend the show to younger children although there was a younger child in front of us who appeared to enjoy the show despite asking his mother lots of questions.

The Foundling Hospital

The Foundling Hospital was not actually a hospital but the first ever purposely built children’s home for babies born into poverty or social exclusion. It was established by Thomas Coram in London in 1739. The babies were sent away to wet nurses until they were five years old and then were brought back to the instution to recieve a basic education until they were old enough to leave for employment.

Play Information:

Adapted for the stage by Emma Reeves and directed by Sally Cookson

Pheobe Thomas (Holby City) stars as Hetty Feather

The Play will be shown at Birmingham Town Hall from April 22nd to April 29th then will be touring Cheltenham, Edinburgh, Cambridge, Sheffield and Dubai.

Disclaimer: I was given four tickets to see the show for the purpose of this show. Photographs were provided for me to use on my blog. All thoughts and opions are entirely my own.

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We Love Clowns! Our visit to Blackpool Circus 2016