b. 1966 Ian Jenkins, from Hartlepool, was born in York in 1966. After an eventful life traveling around the UK and world as a zoologist, teacher, social worker & RAF Officer he succumbed to stress & depression. Fighting back in 1994 he turned to magic, illusion and mentalism. Iain specialises in dark story telling. During… [Read More]
North East Circus History
These North East England circus profiles and notes are created from many 1st & 2nd hand sources, researched by the Family La Bonche. Including: documents & notes from Arthur Fenwick’s Scrapbooks held in the Tyne & Wear Archives; stories from NE based or visiting circus artists and NE circus communities, and documents from their personal archives; photos and articles from local newspapers; online research and, of course, some of our own stories too. The profiles form a time line from 1237 – 2013.
Joe May
b. 1967 Born in London in 1967, Joe May, stage names Joseph d’Amour Buffon and Jeremy Farquhar is a very bendy clown, juggler and slack-rope walker. He went to Theatre Jacques Lecoq in France and trained clown and he is a professional Teacher. He has performed at many local festivals with Let’s Circus, at the… [Read More]
Witty Look
2007 – 2013 Both from Tokyo, Japan, Chiharu Kunishima “Cheeky” b.1977 and Daiki Izumida b.1978 have performed all over the world. Cheeky was a junior synchronised swimming champion before starting mime in 1998 because she ‘wanted to be like a cartoon’! Daiki was taught to unicycle by his family and was the world champion unicyclist… [Read More]
Chris Cross
b. 1980 Chris Cross was born in Newcastle and started performing magic at a young age. As an entertainer and showman he is in turn: Magician, Street Entertainer, Contortionist & Escapologist. He has the necessary gift of the gab and is a self-publicist of note, calling himself the Royal Magician having performed for several members… [Read More]
Nathan White
b. 1979 Nathan (Callitope la Bonche) also known as Luna Tricks, was born in Newcastle, and first started performance skills at 15 when he learnt how to breath fire and eat glass. He later learnt fire poi and fire juggling in the country, then moved back to Newcastle when he was 22. He met some… [Read More]
Dan Brown
b.1986 Dan Brown, aka Danny5, started work on a tall ship at the age of 17. He is a Chippy and surfer and started spinning in 2008. He first met Let’s Circus in 2009 at Circadium and came to North Tyneside Youth Circus as an older member in its early days. He has a cheeky… [Read More]
Claire Harvey
b. 1985 Claire is an Aerial and multi-skilled lady who can do pretty much anything. She is a trained school teacher and dancer too. She combines dance with her aerial and brings her aerial and dance skills to her circus school, Circus Central. She is the lead aerial mentor at Five Ring Circus and is… [Read More]
Circus Central / NECDT
2009 – date Circus Central is a hub for circus artists and skills training based in Christ Church buildings, Shieldfield, Newcastle upon Tyne. It is run by a charitable trust, the North East Circus Development Trust (NECDT) it is was founded by Helen Averley and Steve Cousins in 2009/10. The Board was chaired by Mike… [Read More]
Spaghetti Circus
2010 visit In 2010, when Five Ring Circus was finding it’s feet, they invited Australia’s Spaghetti Circus to Newcastle with their show “Teenager”. The Spaghettis were a long established youth circus with lots of high level skills, such as teeter board and acrobatics. They were received at Mansion House by the Lord Mayor and performed… [Read More]
Tyne & Wear Circus Scene
2005 – 2013 In this period there is are several free-lance artists (community, professional or emerging) who are based in Tyne & Wear. These individuals cross over with other entries in this timeline and often work for each other. Many having worked for Circus Central or Let’s Circus. There are 2 clusters 1 in Sunderland:… [Read More]
