All
the Fun of the Circus
By
Richard Moore
It
has been a very long time since this fellow went to the
circus but, while spending time at the beach in the Bay
of Plenty recently we had the opportunity to go and see
the travelling show from the Weber Brothers Circus.
The
show was called Splash - following the adventures
of a sea princess kidnapped by an evil Orc king - and is
full of some terrific acrobatics and feats of skill.
The
heroine is the mermaid daughter of King Neptune and unless
he can rescue her she is fated to marry the hideous King
Kraal on her 21st birthday.
To
save her Neptune forces a fisherman to undertake the dangerous
mission and his only reward is not being turned into a fish!
Splash
begins by using a traditional circus ring, but then in the
second half it changes into a giant swimming pool.
This
adds real action and flavour to the tale of the mermaid
and allows for some very clever stagework and lighting.
The
show doesn't have wild or exotic animals - do any in these
days? - but the performers are excellent and the story kept
the children enthralled.
I
should mention there is one animal act - a football match
between Australian and New Zealand boxer dogs that - I'm
pleased to report - the Aussies won!
Splash
is a very clever mix of clowns, high-wire acts, giant puppets,
trapeze work, astonishing feats of gymnastic strength and
skill. The staging is superb and full credit to the person
who put it all together.
The
acts come from all around the world - Mongolia, Russia,
South Africa, Australia and Colombia and there is a rich
vein of humour running through the show.
In
our performance the high-wire duo were not only supremely
skilful, but gutsy. One of the artistes had two goes at
riding a unicycle over the wire and almost dropped off at
the start each time.
Fortunately
he showed more sense than guts and decided it just wasn't
going to work in that show. He received a huge round of
applause from the audience.
His
partner was incredible on the wire and did things I wouldn't
try a foot above the ground, let alone 20 feet up!
Weber
Bros Circus can be very proud of its professional troupe
and we will definitely be visiting them next time we come
across them on our - or their - travels.
A
family ticket costs $65 for two adults and two children.
Well worth it.
Check
out the Weber Bros Circus site.
