The Circus of Horrors


The Circus of Horrors is a British contemporary circus created by John Haze and Gerry Cottle.
First seen performing at the Glastonbury Festival in 1995. Combining horror, black comedy and rock and roll with circus acts, the circus uses goth and steampunk imagery and references victorian freak shows and burlesque. They were semi-finalists on Britain's Got Talent in 2011.

History

The Circus of Horrors was created by John Haze and Gerry Cottle and debuted at the 1995 Glastonbury Festival. Influences include Alice Cooper, Marc Bolan, Rob Zombie, Quentin Tarantino, Jim Rose Circus and Archaos.
The Circus of Horrors have performed at various festivals including Glastonbury Festival, Download Festival, Reading Festival, Leeds Festival, Belladrum Festival, T in the Park, Edinburgh Fringe, Beautiful Days Festival, Isle of Wight Festival, Shocktoberfest in the United Kingdom, Fuji Rock Festival in Japan, Wacken Festival in Germany, plus shows in the United States, Chile, Uruguay, the Netherlands, Belgium, Argentina, France, Italy, Ireland, Finland, Hong Kong, Poland, Jersey, Canada, and Moscow where it created history by becoming the first British circus ever to perform in Russia. The Circus of Horrors have also performed 10 successful nights in London's The 02 Arena. They annually perform at the Great Dorset Steam Fair and tour theatres throughout the UK.
The Circus of Horrors feature circus and sideshow acts, such as sword swallowing, hair hanging, acrobatics, fire eating, aerial acts, trapeze acts, stage illusions, Impalement arts, contortion, hula hooping, human blockheads, and many more circus acts performed to live original rock music.
Regular performers include Ringmaster Doktor Haze, Captain Dan, Hannibal Hellmurto, Anastasia IV, The Mongolian Laughing Boy, Camp Dracula, Gary Stretch, The Sinister Sisters, The Deadly Divas, and The Voodoo Warriors. The Circus Of Horrors have also performed with many stars and celebrities including Alice Cooper, Gary Numan, Marilyn Manson, The Damned, Boy George, Cradle of Filth, Lenny Henry, Arthur Brown, Screaming Lord Sutch, Ross Lee, Dani Behr, Ant & Dec, Gary Lineker, Dave Hill, Simon Drake, Robbie Williams, Yvette Fielding, Jeremy Beadle, Gordon Ramsay and Diego Maradona.
The circus holds numerous Guinness World Records, including the world's largest custard pie fight, lifting the greatest weight by the hair, most swords swallowed in one minute, 1040 vampires in the same place at the same time, and the largest human mobile which contained 16 men, including Dr Haze, suspended from a crane 150 ft above The River Thames.
In 2011, The Circus of Horrors auditioned for the fifth series of the ITV talent competition show Britain's Got Talent. They received a positive response with judges Amanda Holden stating “It was gruesomely good with something for everyone – like The Rocky Horror Show on acid", Michael McIntyre stating “It was a visual feast. You are all extremely talented. Overall, a wonderful spectacle”, David Hasselhoff stating “It was fantastic, that’s what I call entertainment”, and Simon Cowell stating “I loved it and if I were the Royal family I'd love to see this”. They became the only circus act to ever reach the finals of Britain's Got Talent and the first circus to perform in London's West End in over 100 years. They were the only circus to perform in a single venue in London for 24 weeks,.

Tours

Music video credits