After a week of dry weather the day came and the rain arrived with it. We managed to dodge the torrential showers when we arrived but whilst in the queue to get in it started and didn't stop until after we were back home.
Despite telling me the circus was wheelchair accessible, they had put the tent up in the middle of a muddy field in the park and not put one piece of rubber matting down anywhere. There was a kerb up from the path to the field that had no ramping anywhere.
My husband had to stand on the fifth wheel of my son's manual wheelchair and force it through the mud to get there and back. With the state of him and the chair by the time we got back to the car at the end you would think they had been mud wrestling.
My electric chair had trouble getting up the kerb so a run up and clenched teeth were required. On the wet grass it skidded and slipped about and I was scared to stop in case it wouldn't move again or sank.
Once we got inside the circus tent it was like a sweat yurt. I saw one recently on Jack Whitehall's show where he travels as a father with his father. I love those shows. They had huge blow heaters inside and we were dressed for a cold, damp usual circus tent plus I was dealing with hot flushes with this menopause. My son and I wore face masks because you can't rely on sick people to stay home. You would think they woukd ha e learned from the covid lock downs but it seems not.
The seats were all on the grass, no tiered seating. We were directed to sit one behind the other but my daughter hated that so we moved things around and all sat together in a row for the performance. With the apparent low budget from the lack of flooring and tiers we weren't sure what to expect.
Had this been our first time at a circus we woukd go again, but we have been to lots of circuses and this one was definately not the best. The clown tried his best to keep the show fluidly moving between acts but each act was quite short and uninspiring. Personally, despite the practice I know it takes, I find juggling boring to watch. There was a lot. Juggling pins, hoops, fire. One lady had a swing set up like a trapeze. It looked impressive but her performance sadly wasn't awe inspiring. I have seen better shapes and more excitement up high on an aerial hoop. My favourite act was the last who had monkey bars hung up high made of straps instead of bars. At each end was a trapeze. She walked the monkey bars upside down! Amazing. She was so strong and skilled.
Their posted was based around a monster truck. All they used it for was to stupidly and irresponsibly run over the juggler (juggling doesn't warrant that) and to tell the crowd at the interval they could pay to take photos with their own phone of their family with the monster truck. No thank you.
The motorbikes were definitely the noisiest stars of the show. Their riding within the sphere or ball of death maybe was brilliant. Their best trick was coming flying in up a ramp, over the stage and landing on a huge inflatable at the other side. I have seen people talking about this on the show The Real Greatest Showmen. I was surprised they did it in the rain.
All in all it was a nice evening out for us all (except our daughter who was anxious the whole way through and wanted to go home).
