It's International Clown Week, so... bring in the clowns!

Circus Mania - Loved by Clowns

Cirque du Hilarious Review

Catch Britain's funniest clowns, Clive Webb and Danny Adams at the Grand Theatre, Lancaster on Sunday 8 March in their new show for 2015, Screaming With Laughter.  Box Office: 01524 64695.

For a preview of the funniest show on Earth, click here to read my review of a previous Cirque du Hilarious production in Southwold.

The clown team, complete with Cirque du Hilarious showgirls and Clown Force rock band have been maintaining a packed schedule of dates at Butlins holiday camps in Skegness, Minehead and Bognor for the past few years, so it's good to see them also fitting in more theatre dates this year, with more theatre shows in March.

For more on the father and son funny men, read a full chapter about Danny and Clive in Circus Mania - The Ultimate Book For Anyone Who Dreamed of Running Away with the Circus.

Has the new worn off new circus? Michael Billington of the Guardian gives La Soiree a lukewarm review

La Soiree

Do you prefer old circus or new? Reviewing the circus-cabaret-burlesque hybrid La Soiree - now in its tenth season in a Speigeltent on  London's Southbank - the Guardian's Michael Billington found himself missing the older style of circus:

"I loved the show’s more daring physical acts. But, although people deride the old-style circus for its exploitation of animals and variety theatre for its tat, they both had a poetry and grace somewhat lacking in this frenetically kaleidoscopic spectacle."

Could it be that 24 years after Cirque du Soleil first visited London, the new is wearing off new circus and the pendulum of taste is swinging back to the traditional sawdust ring?

Read the Guardian's review here.

And for a journey through all the many styles of circus in the UK today - including traditional big top shows with tigers and elephants; circus and ice-skating spectaculars; the cringe-inducing Circus of Horrors; the Butlins-based Cirque du Hilarious; the Speigeltent-set contemporary circus of Circa; and the ancient eastern wonders of the Chinese State Circus - read Circus Mania - The Ultimate Book For Anyone Who Dreamed of Running Away with the Circus.

Click here to read the reviews.

Secret of Houdini's milk churn escape

Danny Adams
recreates Houdini's
milk churn escape
- a picture from
Circus Mania

One of the most memorable acts I witnessed while writing Circus Mania was Danny Adams' recreation of Houdini's escape from a padlocked milk churn.

Backstage at the Great Yarmouth Hippodrome, with water still dripping from his clown nose, the daredevil revealed, "The first time I went in was horrible. You hear the padlocks go on. Your heart is racing... and I couldn't get out at all. It was the scariest thing ever."

The stunt requires the handcuffed performer to hold his breath under water for a minute and a quarter.

But, as this picture reveals, at least he doesn't have to worry about the water being too cold - it's heated up backstage before he goes in.

Danny Adams and Clive Webb - collectively Cirque du Hilarious - are appearing in pantomime in Jack & The Beanstalk at the Newcastle Theatre Royal until January 18.

Click here to read a review of their summer show on Southwold Common.

Backstage at Cirque du Hilarious
- Circus Mania takes you there

And read a full chapter on the comic duo in Circus Mania - The Ultimate Book For Anyone Who Dreamed of Running Away with the Circus.

Click here to buy the book