What is circus?
I don’t think I am qualified to answer that any more. I have not been in real contact with British tenting circus since 1970 and the great Billy Smarts and Britain has not seen the likes of such a show since. I see various shows from time to time that seem quite alien to ‘the good old days’ and I seem to recognise no-one or it. For a start the Big Tops do not look like the real thing, tents have taken strange shapes like a giant Bedouin design one even had colours outside but black inside stifling jollity. Even the band one could not count the number of musicians was hidden in one corner in semi darkness whilst the constant sales wagon in the tent and next to it, was open all the time and well lit -to distraction. The musical score was dire. Again, traditional circus music for acts seems to be avoided only some bland unpleasant musak tape to welcome the house in and no music for the interval and no music for the house to leave with, the atmosphere of a railway terminus. The new tents a
