Billy Smart's Circus in Lancing

This weekend we were lucky enough to be invited to Billy Smart's Circus, currently playing in Lancing. Harry has just finished a Circus topic at school and so the timing is ideal, and I was very excited to be able to take him.

Billy Smart's Circus was founded in 1946, and is currently hosted by Yasmin Smart, the granddaughter of the founder. There are no animals in the circus, and so it's all about the human performers.

We took the children to the circus a couple of years ago and it was a bit much for them, so I was hoping that now (aged 3 and 5) they would be a bit more interested. Fortunately I was right, Mia was as good as gold and totally absorbed throughout, and although fidgety, Harry was also fascinated by the feats being performed in front of him.

The show opened with a short video which told us a little bit about the history of the circus, which was really interesting. At one time, the circus performed to audiences of 6,000! Then it was straight into the acts. I was very impressed by how slick the production of the circus was. It has its own small orchestra which played throughout, and the music was a really central part of the show, appropriate and perfectly timed. There was also a great balance between the faster, more spectacular acts like the acrobats and the flying trapeze troupe and the quieter yet still graceful and impressive acts like foot juggling and the solo trapeze. The short gaps in between acts were filled by Jonny Bogino, a modern clown that Harry loved.

All the acts really were spectacular, and the performers were carrying out some amazing feats. They also all looked so cheerful, and as though they were having a great time! I liked that you could see a great deal of attention was being given to the safety of the performers, I'm a bit anxious watching people flying about in the air above me but I could see that there was always a safety line or a net there!

Harry's favourite part of the show was the flying trapeze artists and I can see why, they really were fantastic.

At the end of the show the performers all came out together, each holding their national flag, which was a really nice touch and showed just how multicultural a circus it is.

We received complimentary tickets to the circus in exchange for a review.