Circus Extreme 'Rock It Out' Review

 

One of the great things about circus is that no matter how many shows you have seen, and how many times you have been wowed, you will always, on any visit to any show, probably see at least one thing you have never seen before and be wowed all over again.

In Circus Extreme's 2025 offering, Rock It Out, my 'never seen that before' moments started with the opening number which saw a live rock band, fronted by a female singer, being lowered from the roof of the big top to the ring on a couple of platforms as they played, while dancers on motorbikes were lowered on ropes alongside them (See pic above)

It has to be said that the loud rock soundtrack to Rock It Out won't be to everyone's taste. But rock is in Circus Extreme's DNA. The show's late founder, John Haze previously founded and starred in the long-running Circus of Horrors, a cult show that grew out of a rock band, and the desire to blend rock music and circus was always his driving force.

So the big bombastic opening number, visually and musically, was very much a nod to Haze's legacy. It was also the perfect curtain raiser for a big, bold, bombastic show.

From there, we were straight into my next 'never seen that before' moment: Lucky Hell swallowing swords while spinning high in the air on a pair of aerial straps (see pic below). The danger in that stunt definitely justifies the word 'extreme' in Circus Extreme. 

In one of her ground-based moves, Lucky swallowed an impressive amount of two very long swords... then, unexpectedly gulped them down another several inches - a moment guaranteed to give any audience a jolt and make them wince.

I last checked in on Circus Extreme in 2022. You can read my review here. There were some returning acts in 2025 including Laura Miller who performs on an aerial hoop while periodically being dunked in a tank of water, then lifted aloft with water falling from her while she twirls. It's a visually impressive and highly original act that is no less entertaining for being seen more than once.

Getting back to my 'never seen before' moments, though, a highlight of Rock It On was Skywalker Marlon's high altitude aerial act. As well as an upside down walk, hanging from his feet as he stepped along a line of looped straps, he also jumped from a swinging trapeze bar to a static trapeze bar, landing upside down to hang from his feet.

It's a feat that Jules Leotard, who invented the flying trapeze in 1859 would have been proud of.

The standout of the show for me were the Catwall Acrobats (below). Their apparatus consisted of a scaffolding-like tower positioned between two trampolines. The four men and one woman then repeatedly threw themselves from the central wall onto the trampolines, bouncing back to the spot where they had been standing.

It sounds simple - and it was - but with all the performers simultaneously in motion, with one falling and another bouncing on either side of the wall, the criss-crossing array of bodies was an amazing, mesmerising thing to watch, and surely one of the most spectacular circus tricks currently being performed anywhere in the world. It would definitely be a good one for Britain's Got Talent.

Elsewhere in the show were rollerskating, juggling, clowning, a double wheel of death, and a dynamic Russian Swing act.

As in 2022, the show ended with a globe of death. As you will see in my report here, 2025 was a bad year for globe riders. Performers were seriously injured in crashes at Zippos, Circus Funtasia, Blackpool Tower Circus and Circus Extreme itself. A rider actually died in a collision in the globe in Italy in November.

As in 2022, however, the highlight was not the four motorcyclists circling inside the globe, but a second troupe of five stunt motorcyclists jumping over it.

With the four parked-up riders in the cage rhythmically revving their engines to stoke the crowd's excitement, the act climaxed with the five Evel Knievels turning somersaults as they flew overhead in the vast dome of Britain's biggest big top.

The bikes followed each other in such close succession that at least two were in the air simultaneously at any moment. If one had landed badly, there would have been a serious pile up.

But that's what puts the 'extreme' in Circus Extreme - possibly the most extreme circus show on Earth.

Risk is part of the circus, says injured Globe of Death rider

 

The Globe of Death isn’t just a scary name. When you have multiple motorcyclists looping the loop inside a spherical cage, the stunt is only ever a second’s loss of control from a serious accident.

Proving the danger behind the glamour of every circus stunt, Globe of Death rider Malin Yovov came a cropper during a Circus Funtasia performance in Helston, Cornwall this summer. His tyre blew out, causing him to crash into another rider. He suffered three broken ribs – but won’t be deterred from rejoining the act as soon as he is able.

“This is all part and parcel of live entertainment,” Malin said on the circus’ social media. “People pay money to see the best shows in the UK with the most extreme stunts. I’m well aware of the dangers of this performance and I thrive off it. When I hear the audience go wild, I just can’t wait for the next show to do it all again.”

Click here for the story of how Circus Funtasia boss Tracy Jones ran away with a circus… and ended up starting her own.

Currently in Helston, Circus Funtasia will open in Bude on 11 August.

Big Kid Circus goes ape (big time!)

With its jungle scenery and a contortionist performing in the palm of a 30-foot-tall animatronic ape, could Kingdom of Kong, the new show by Big Kid Circus be the best looking show touring the UK this year?

Big Kid is celebrating its 20th anniversary, and with Kingdom of Kong, directed by Julia Kirilova, it proves why circus will never die: the big top's perpetual ability to introduce new, never-before-seen spectacle.

With a storyline in which the clowns are explorers trying to steal a diamond from an African tribe, the show also includes the world's only all-female Globe of Death motorcyclists and a very fresh-looking basketball-meets-springboard act.

Atmospheric music and lighting, and a view through ringside flora that transforms the performance area into a jungle clearing, create a fully immersive experience with a completely different appearance to traditional images of sawdust and canvas.

And if the above picture doesn't make you want to buy a ticket, what would???

For venues click here.

 

Big Kid Circus presents Europe's only all-female Globe of Death

"For the first time ever, in any circus in the UK..." Those are the words you want to hear, bellowed through the air in a big top. 

The new, the original, the unique. Those are the commodities that the circus has always thrived on. That is what will get you rolling up to a big top to see: something you can't see anywhere else.

In this case, ringmaster Kevin Kevin (yep, he was so good they named him twice) was introducing this year's new season attraction to Big Kid Circus: Europe's only all-female Globe of Death riders.

The globe of death is itself nothing new. In some recent reviews, I complained of seeing too many of them, with one closing almost every circus.

But there are ways to refresh the act, with bikes leaping over the globe at Circus Extreme, Circus Zyair and Planet Circus (read my review here).

The all-female trio at Big Kid provides another welcome twist, and one likely to generate something that circuses depend on: news coverage.

My preview of the Daring Dames Festival - Europe's only all-female circus festival looked at how some circus disciplines such as clowning and strongman have traditionally been almost exclusively male preserves - and how a new generation of women is now venturing into those areas.

The Globe of Death is definitely one such male dominated arena, making Big Kid's women motorcyclists remarkable.

The troupe comprises Julia from the UK, Vanessa from Brazil and Ronica from Iraq.

You can see their death-defying display on Big Kid Circus' next stop in Brent Cross.