For those of you who knew her it will come as no surprise that Mrs D was very keen to see this – well she would as her favourite film genre was horror.

Having said that it was an enjoyable show but I could help but wince at some points.

Ian Duncan reviews Circus of Horrors at the Futurist.

EVEN before the show begins you have to be on your guard with a few of strange characters wandering in the audience.

Unfortunately the guy sat directly in front of me had perhaps spent too long getting his spiky blond hair just right for his night out – only for a French hunchback to put it right for him with a generous handful of spit.

A 1920s theatre was perhaps the ideal setting for the Scarborough return of the Circus of Horrors’ darkly Gothic take on the freak show.

After a few warm up tricks from our hunchback friend we are transported to a Parisian asylum where the lunatics eventually take control.

The acts included a man, looking like a demented extra from Mad Max, putting a hook through his nose and a woman acrobat spinning through the air suspended only by her hair.

The cast needs to travel to Mexico for the Day Of The Dead to resurrect some of their deceased colleagues.

Highlights included a dwarf doctor engaging in some electric trickery – complete with Carry On-style nurses – and a troupe of Aztec warriors limbo dancing under fire.

After a short interval the story moves onto London, circa 1900, for a Victorian freak show – including knife throwing, a contortionist inside a bottle and sword swallowing.

Unfortunately the show’s ringmaster, Dr Haze, convincingly murders a young woman by slashing her throat and the action takes on a cyberpunk twist in the year 2020 where his undead victim seeks her revenge.

The finale included a contortionist firing a bow and arrow with her feet, tricks with bullwhips and more knife throwing.

The larger illusions were well performed and the band, The Interceptors From Hell, provided a suitably manic musical backdrop.

And the irony of the current smoking ban, where performers can eat flaming torches but are prevented from smoking a cigarette on stage, was well and truly hammered home.

The blood drenched show was a curious blend of the Rocky Horror Picture Show and the stage theatrics of Alice Cooper and some of the stunts genuinely made me wince – I will never hear the Johnny Cash track, Ring Of Fire, in quite the same way again.

If you get a chance see the Circus of Horrors you go because it is a scream.

From the Scarborough Evening News on Friday, February 25, 2011.

Horror show returns for theatre of screams

A CONTORTIONIST who fires a longbow using her feet and a sword swallower who includes an electric drill in his act are just two of the highlights included in the Circus of Horrors.

Dr Haze, the gruesome horror show’s self-styled undead ringmaster, said they had not played in the town for about five or six years and he was looking forward to the return. “We’ve done other places near it,” he said. “I love Scarborough – it’s beautiful.”

He originally formed the Circus of Horrors 15 years ago after producing it on a smaller scale and the show now includes 26 performers and musicians. “I was already doing a show called Circus of Horrors but I wanted to take it one step forward. I met circus owner Gerry Cottle – ironically at a funeral – and we decided to combine our forces,” he said.

Dr Haze described the current show, The Four Chapters from Hell, as a sort of greatest hits of the four previous shows.

“It’s very interesting. If a band was doing its greatest hits and digitally remastering them this is Circus of Horrors digitally remastered. There’s going to be something in there for everybody. Their favourite bits are in this show.”

What we are promised are some of the greatest, most bizarre and beautiful circus acts on earth. From dare devil flying trapeze to a vampiric crow woman suspended only by her hair, whirlwind roller skaters, pickled and bendy people, voodoo warriors and knife throwers to name but a few.

Dr Haze said: “I like doing the whole thing. I like talking and you can ad-lib a bit. There’s a lot of fun to be had. Towards the end I love all the staempunk imagery – it’s piece de resistance. The performers have done their acts and it’s one final hurrah. It’s really exciting.”

He added that there had been some good contortionists performing with the Circus of Horrors over the years but the current one was something different – her finale includes her firing a longbow with her feet. He said: “There’s a lot of stuff that people haven’t seen before and this pulls the best bits from the past 15 years.”

As a cautionary note it is not for those of a nervous disposition and organisers warn the audience that the show contains language of an adult nature.

It’s on at the Futurist Theatre on Wednesday February 23.

From the Scarborough Evening News on Wednesday, February 16, 2011.