“Do you believe that there is nothing that can really shock you? Are you convinced that you’ve ‘seen it all’? Then you certainly haven’t experienced true darkness and you’ve never been to the Circus of Horrors.”
“Please come in,” says Nosferatu at the entrance, his voice and manner sending a chill down your spine. At the sight of the pitch-black interior of the marquee and Gothic graveyard, we ask ourselves with trepidation what could have induced us to visit this spectacular staged by Suso Silva. The award-winning circus director (Premio Nacional de Circo 2003) came to Ibiza with his ensemble as part of this year’s tour between 2nd and 20th July.
No-one feels safe in their seat and the show lasts almost two hours. Self-control is essential if you are not to succumb to panic and we attempt to put our reason on hold and to rein in our thoughts. But as we take long slow breaths, someone creeps up from behind. “Aargh, I’ve got to get out of here,” screams the woman sitting next to me, forgetting in her terror that we aren’t really in some haunted house but in the ‘Circus of Horrors’.
Nothing really bad can happen to you in the Circus because the performance is adapted to suit all the visitors and, under Suso’s direction, there is always scope for humour between all the realistically portrayed monsters. The Circus of Horrors has been designed to take one of the longest-established of traditional entertainments and give it a new twist with a cast consisting of ‘Creatures of the Night’.
Lost souls, an obsessive child, the murderous clown, the Grim Reaper and the Black Widow are just a few of the characters that crop up in this production, with lead roles being taken by Nosferatu, the Maiden of Ill-fortune and Sweet Sara. All of them are accomplices in sustaining the atmosphere of horror and involving the audience in an entertaining and interactive fashion with their sudden and spontaneous appearances.
The performers demonstrate considerable athletic skills throughout the whole show, for example the Phantom of the Opera and the bats who, with their sheer acrobatic prowess and tricks demanding extreme concentration and balance, provoke panic amongst the audience
The performers demonstrate considerable athletic skills throughout the whole show, for example the Phantom of the Opera and the bats who, with their sheer acrobatic prowess and tricks demanding extreme concentration and balance, provoke panic amongst the audience
During the final dance, the monsters show that they certainly had no intention of causing anyone a heart attack but merely wished to provide a couple of hours’ entertainment full of joy and emotion – but with the occasional shock thrown in for good measure.