The Circus of Horrors

The Circus of Horrors is a British contemporary circus created by John (Dr) Haze and Gerry Cottle.[1] First seen performing at the Glastonbury Festival in 1995.[2] Combining horror, black comedy and rock and roll with circus acts, the circus uses goth and steampunk imagery, and references victorian freak shows and burlesque.[3] They were semi-finalists on Britain's Got Talent in 2011.[4]

For the 1960 British horror film, see Circus of Horrors.
The Circus of Horrors
Origin
CountryUnited Kingdom
Founder(s)John Haze, Gerry Cottle
Year founded1995
Information
Ringmaster(s)Doktor Haze
DirectorsJohn Haze, Pierrot Bidon
Traveling show?Yes
Type of actsCircus, sideshow
Other informationNo animals
Websitewww.circusofhorrors.co.uk

History

The Circus of Horrors was created by John Haze and Gerry Cottle and debuted at the 1995 Glastonbury Festival, directed by Pierrot Bidon. Influences include Alice Cooper, Marc Bolan, Rob Zombie, Quentin Tarantino, Jim Rose Circus, and Archaos.[5][6]

In 1998, The Circus Of Horrors performed with Robbie Williams at the Royal Variety Performance.[7] From 1999 to 2001, they were regular performers on the television show Don't Try This at Home with Davina McCall.

The Circus of Horrors have performed at various festivals including Glastonbury Festival (3 times), Download Festival (4 times), Reading Festival, Leeds Festival, Belladrum Festival, T in the Park, Edinburgh Fringe (3 times), Beautiful Days Festival, Isle of Wight Festival, Shocktoberfest in the United Kingdom, Fuji Rock Festival in Japan (twice), Wacken Festival in Germany, plus shows in the United States, Chile, Uruguay, the Netherlands, Belgium (twice), Argentina, France, Italy, Ireland, Finland, Hong Kong, Poland, Jersey, Canada, and Moscow where it created history by becoming the first British circus ever to perform in Russia. The Circus of Horrors have also performed 10 nights in London's The 02 Arena.[8] They annually perform at the Great Dorset Steam Fair and tour theatres throughout the UK.

The Circus of Horrors feature circus and sideshow acts such as sword swallowing, hair hanging, acrobatics, fire eating, aerial acts, trapeze acts, stage illusions, Impalement arts, contortion, hula hooping, human blockheads, and many more circus acts performed to live original rock music.[9]

Regular performers include Ringmaster Doktor Haze, Captain Dan, Hannibal Hellmurto, Anastasia IV, The Mongolian Laughing Boy, Camp Dracula, Gary Stretch, The Sinister Sisters, The Deadly Divas, and The Voodoo Warriors. The Circus Of Horrors have also performed with many stars and celebrities including: Alice Cooper, Gary Numan, Marilyn Manson, The Damned, Boy George, Cradle of Filth, Lenny Henry, Five Finger Death Punch, Arthur Brown, Screaming Lord Sutch, Ross Lee, Dani Behr, Ant & Dec, Gary Lineker, Dave Hill, Gordon Ramsay, Simon Drake, Ashley Roberts, Yvette Fielding, Jeremy Beadle and Diego Maradona.[10][11]

The circus holds numerous Guinness World Records, including the world's largest custard pie fight, lifting the greatest weight by the hair, most swords swallowed in one minute,[12] 1040 vampires in the same place at the same time, and the largest human mobile which contained 16 men, including Dr Haze, suspended from a crane 150 ft above The River Thames.[13][14]

In 2011, The Circus of Horrors auditioned for the fifth series of the ITV show Britain's Got Talent. They received a positive response with judges Amanda Holden stating “It was gruesomely good with something for everyone – like The Rocky Horror Show on acid", Michael McIntyre stating “It was a visual feast. You are all extremely talented. Overall, a wonderful spectacle”, David Hasselhoff stating “It was fantastic, that’s what I call entertainment”, and Simon Cowell stating “I loved it and if I were the Royal family I'd love to see this”.[15] They became the only circus act to ever reach the finals of Britain's Got Talent and the first circus to perform in London's West End in over 100 years.[16] They were the only circus to perform in a single venue in London (Roundhouse) for 24 weeks, (previous record was 17 weeks).

Tours

UK theatre tours
  • Welcome to the Freakshow (2003)
  • 10th Anniversary Tour (2004-2005)
  • Undead & Alive (2005-2006)
  • Evilution (2006-2007)
  • The Asylum (2007-2008)
  • Apocalypse in the Asylum (2008-2009)
  • The Day of the Dead (2009-2010)
  • The 4 Chapters From Hell (2010-2011)
  • The Ventriloquist (2011-2012)
  • The Curse of the Devil Doll (2013)
  • London After Midnight (2013-2014)
  • The Night of the Zombie (2014-2015)
  • Welcome to Carnevil (2015-2016)
  • The Never-ending Nightmare (2016-2017)
  • Voodoo (2017-2018)
  • Psycho Asylum (2018-2019)
  • 25th Anniversary Tour (2019-2020)

Filmography

DVDs
  • Undead & Alive (2005)
  • The Asylum (2007)
  • The Night of the Zombie (2015)

Music video credits

Television credits

Discography
  • Destiny And Desire (My Enchantment With Fire) - The Circus Of Horrors featuring Haze vs the X Factor (Madman Records, 1997)
  • Welcome To The Freakshow - The Circus of Horrors featuring Haze vs the X Factor (Silva Screen, 2001)
  • An Evil Anthology - Dr Haze & The Circus of Horrors (A Wolf At Your Door Records, 2008)
  • Something Wicked This Way Comes - Dr Haze & The Interceptors From Hell (Pyscho, 2016)

See also

References
  1. "Circus of Horrors". Psycho Management Co. Retrieved 2019-03-07.
  2. Reddin, Lorelei (8 January 2016). "Circus of Horrors returns to Hampshire". Daily Echo. Retrieved 2016-01-19.
  3. Rogers, Bob (6 February 2014). "Review: Circus of Horrors at The Riverfront, Newport". walesonline. Retrieved 2016-01-19.
  4. McPherson, Douglas (2015-11-06). "The Archive: Celebrating 21 years of Circus of Horrors | Features". The Stage. Retrieved 2020-02-27.
  5. "Circus of Horrors". Corn Exchange Newbury. Retrieved 2019-07-30.
  6. Kilroy, Hannah May (2011-02-04). "The Circus of Horrors – review". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-07-30.
  7. Mirror.co.uk (2011-04-14). "Britain's Got Talent act Circus of Horrors have already worked with Ant and Dec". mirror. Retrieved 2018-11-23.
  8. User, Super. "Gladstone Theatre - Circus of Horrors". www.gladstonetheatre.org.uk. Retrieved 2018-11-21.
  9. "Shock, horror! Scary circus in Falkirk to mark 25 years of terrific, tantalising terror". www.falkirkherald.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  10. "CARNIVAL OF THE BIZARRE". The Circus of Horrors. Retrieved 2018-11-16.
  11. "Mr Methane Will Be Blowing Off @ The Great Dorset Steam Fair Saturday | Fart News and Blog". www.mrmethane.com. Retrieved 2019-07-30.
  12. Dailyrecord.co.uk (2014-02-21). "Video: Hannibal Hellmurto breaks world record by swallowing nine swords while HANGING UPSIDE DOWN". dailyrecord. Retrieved 2019-03-27.
  13. McPherson, Douglas (2015-11-06). "The Archive: Celebrating 21 years of Circus of Horrors | Features". The Stage. Retrieved 2019-01-16.
  14. "Circus of Horrors - Interview with Dr Haze". www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-10-10.
  15. Mirror.co.uk (2011-04-14). "Britain's Got Talent act Circus of Horrors have already worked with Ant and Dec". mirror. Retrieved 2018-11-22.
  16. Britain's Got Talent (2011-05-14), The Circus of Horrors - Britain's Got Talent 2011 audition - itv.com/talent - UK Version, retrieved 2018-10-25
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