Review & Photo copyright © Graham Finney
Sometimes you arrive at a venue and you know it’s just the perfect location for the frivolities of the evening. This was exactly the case as Totalntertainment set foot inside the quaint surroundings of the Grand Opera House in York to catch up with Dr.Haze and the Circus of Horrors. On the road again, this time the gang are out with their new show “Voodoo” with a few new acts joining old Circus of Horror favourites.
For the next two hours, Dr. Haze and his gang of freaks shocked and rocked a Yorkshire crowd made up of rockers, couples, a group of OAP’s and the plain intrigued.
Now, if you’ve seen the Circus of Horrors before then you’ll know what to expect and, on that score, “Voodoo” is no different. If you’re a COH virgin though, basically, circus freak acts perform their “talents” to a chosen theme with the whole thing played out to the kind of soundtrack more akin to an Alice Cooper gig.
Where recent shows have seen the things head in a light-hearted direction, this time Haze takes things down a darker path with a Ouija board raising the dead for night of the darkest magic. Of course, if we’re being honest, the theme plays second fiddle as we’re really all there to see a midget swinging a weight off his tackle and a tattooed bloke swallowing a cutlass.
Amongst the new acts this time there is a Tanzanian contortionist and a knife-throwing couple from Transylvania both of whom are top notch and add enough to the show to keep it fresh. Furthermore, the inclusion of the high-flying girls adds a bit of glitz to the show demonstrating that, even after twenty-two years, the Circus of Horrors team know exactly how to get the right balance of glamour and shock to get the fans pouring back every time.
