by Snuggle Pot La Bonche The animal theme has intersected with circus for years on end as it has with other showmen’s products such as optical illusions, early cinema & tableaux vivants. Travelling with dangerous animals requires a much practical knowledge, going beyond what you would expect. The cost of maintaining & controlling animals is… [Read More]
Diary
Growing Up in the Buddle
by Nina La Bonche The Buddle Arts Centre became my crèche when I was about 7 years old. It was a circus haven where we would all go and get stuck in. We could go there at any time of the day and do whatever we felt like – for me it was usually training… [Read More]
Wish We Could Have Met Arthur
Arthur Fenwick is central to our project in terms of material, and we are now very fond of him. We consider him as an important elder in our circus family, the Family La Bonche. We would love to have met him and hear his stories first hand. We all delight in the fact that he… [Read More]
Lulu La Bonche’s Collection of Circus Superstitions
Do not wear green costumes. Do not bring a peacock feathers into the Big Top. Take care not to touch other people’s props. And Circus Ladies should not knit! Do not go back for a prop once you’ve headed towards the ring. Do not step into the ring left foot first. Do not sit with… [Read More]
King’s Circus Health & Safety Concerns
by Kernel La Bonche Streets of Durham is a festival held every year where circus artists come from all over the world to show Durham what they have got. This year, moon-walker George Orange performed a slackline performance in front of Durham Cathedral. The same Cathedral where funambulist (tightwire walker) Hobb of Pelaw fell to… [Read More]
Re-enacting the Macommo Story
How do we make a show about the circus stories we are finding? In June we experimented, in our Newcastle and Billingham youth circus clubs, with the Wallace and Macommo story. The workshops included using acrobatics to describe elements of his life story. Like the Boat he might have sailed on to get to England,… [Read More]
Visit to the National Fairground Archives, Sheffield
We had a fascinating trip to the National Fairground Archives (definitely worth a visit). Any place with a Professor Vanessa must be cool. We learned of the Testo’s and Pinders circus and that the Town Moor Festival and the circuses went to Jesmond Dene for a while. We were also able to buys some reference… [Read More]
The Circus & Fenwick’s Shop, Newcastle
All of this research has given us a real insight into Fenwick Shop in Newcastle as a business in the 1930s. It makes us think of the shop in a different light too. A place where stars of the circus like Koringa visited with their crocodiles and had tea, has to be a bit legendary…. [Read More]
Secrets of the Circus
by Lulu La Bonche Superstitions are a funny thing; they keep us on our toes. Superstitions have been around for a long time, some and we still have some today. People who have hobbies such as footballers may do something before a game, so they play well. We play rubber chicken before a performance, it… [Read More]
Arthur and the Archives
by Tappii La Bonche Going to the archives has been great. There were lots of wonderful experiences like looking at Arthur Fenwicks’ scrapbook and reading his personal life stories in depth. There is a lot of freedom in what you can search for and find, and some funny and fantastic headlines, like “Lion dies from… [Read More]
