CfCC director Chris Barltrop an invited expert speaker at the Budapest Circus Festival 2022

Centre for Circus Culture director Chris Barltrop took part as an invited expert speaker in the international Conference which inaugurated the 2022 Budapest Circus Festival. The text of Chris’s presentation is below.

CIRCUS BUILDINGS IN GREAT BRITAIN

In 1768, Philip and Patty Astley sited their new open-air Riding School and showground at Ha’penny Hatch Lambeth, a part of London sited south of the River Thames and as yet mostly undeveloped.  By setting up on the ‘south bank’, Astley was doing what Shakespeare had done before him when his stage company opened the Globe Theatre; both producers were avoiding the close scrutiny and irksome controls of the authorities of the City of London and the City of Westminster. 

Astley’s success in London rapidly led him to take his shows to other towns too.  Logistics was part of his Army experience and training, so in spite of the terrible roads and the distances involved, he was able to transport and accommodate himself and his troupe  --  the first touring circus!

Astley’s company were subject to the vagaries of the English, Irish, and Scottish climate, leading to cancelled performances on wet and stormy days.  Astley realised that a covered arena would make his business more secure.

Although later and in the 19th century touring shows took place in purpose-made buildings, it has been suggested that Astley’s initial structures were portable arenas.

Astley’s first training was as a carpenter, the skills learned in his father’s workshop.  He’d used those skills to build a covered ‘penthouse’ or grandstand at Westminster Bridge to seat his wealthier patrons; now, he could cause to be built a portable structure, transported from town to town, set up for as long a stay as necessary and provide a weather-proof setting as well as audience accommodation.

We have no record of those portable structures, although Astley set up enough of them and of more permanent structures to earn him the nickname of ‘Amphi-Philip’. However, portable theatres were nothing new; companies using them could visit towns which had no permanent theatre building, or could avoid Licensing laws by playing outside a municipal boundary, just as Astley and others had chosen London’s ‘South Bank’.

Astley is said to have built nineteen ‘Amphitheatres’ across continental Europe; we don’t know how many temporary structures he set up in Britain and Ireland for shorter visits.  He certainly consolidated his earlier Irish visits by constructing an ‘Amphitheatre Royal’ in Dublin in 1790 (Circopedia, 2018)  It is interesting to note from this image that the main building is round, and that a central pole projects from the roof, presumably as support for the canvas covering.

Perhaps the design of the Dublin circus gives a clue as to the shape of Astley’s previous temporary or portable buildings. Another clue as to the presence of that central pole – the forebear of the ‘king pole’ or mast in the centre of the ring of smaller tented circuses in later years – is the inclusion of a wooden post at the trainer’s back in a drawing from the book ‘Astley’s System of Equestrian Education’ (Circopedia 2015).  Working around a central king pole may have been an ever-present factor for touring circus performers.

The ‘portable building’ structure was still in use until surprisingly recently. In the early 1950s, Pinder’s Circus and also Lord George Sanger’s Circus used such a portable building, described as a ‘Continental construction’ – perhaps the idea had come from Europe, or maybe the wording made it sound ‘foreign’ and exotic!  Sanger’s structure was 80 feet (24.3m) in diameter, and 35 feet (10.6m) to the peak of the roof, which was supported by ‘rafters’ running from the top of the walls.  The walls themselves were 9 feet 6 inches (2.9m) high, wooden to 6 feet (1.8m) and then canvas (Twitchett 2003).  Perhaps the design owes something to Philip Astley and other circus pioneers.        

CHARLIE KEITH’S PATENT PORTABLE CIRCUS

Born in May 1836, after travelling and working extensively in Europe, Charlie Keith began in the 1870s to promote his own circuses. Opening for the first time as a solo proprietor on 28th May 1877, his show took place in his own newly-constructed premises at Southport, Lancashire:

            The local newspaper reported thus6: ‘A magnificent building, solidly constructed, beautifully decorated, brilliantly illuminated, handsomely furnished and comfortably seated…With almost the rapidity which characterised the building of Aladdin’s Palace, Mr Charles Keith’s circus has sprung up in Eastbank Street…’

The building was of wood, and was oblong rather than circular. It was the first of several erected and owned by Charlie Keith.  Its size is not known, but Keith’s building of similar design later the same year at Halifax, Yorkshire, was 108 feet (32.9m) in depth and 63 feet (19.2m) in width  (Fitzroy 1998). 

Erecting such buildings was expensive, and meant the circus had to perform for weeks or even for months in the same town to be profitable.  He needed to be more mobile, but working in a tent was not his preference.

In 1882, Charles Keith took out a Patent for a portable, mobile circus building: Keith’s Travelling Building for a Circus. 

The idea itself is simple, if radical; rather than transport your circus and unload at each site to laboriously build up the show, use the transport as the circus!

Keith’s prescience – or perhaps his personal ambition! –led him to Patent his plans in France as well as in England.

According to the Patent and to other details quoted by Keith’s great-grandson David Fitzroy 7, the Travelling Building works like this:

the vehicles or wheeled carriages are fifteen feet (4.57m) in length and seven feet six inches (2.286m) in width.  The bodywork or frame on top is seven feet six inches high on the front side and six feet high on the back – this difference in height gives the finished building a sloping roof.  In the original plan, there were ten such vehicles, parked or set to form a circle of eighty-five feet (25.9m) diameter. 

It is noted that the dimensions of the vehicles can be varied, and that the number of vehicles used can also be varied to make a larger or smaller circle.

The doors at each end of the bodywork are removed, and are afterwards used to continue the roof between vehicles.  The gaps in the floor between the carriages are filled by tapered boards.  Boards are secured in the outside spaces between the vehicles to close in the lower part of the building.

The front or inner side of the bodywork of each carriage hinges from its lower edge to form a sloping floor, and benches are already fixed to those surfaces to form the seating.  The space within the vehicle bodies becomes a walkway with a total length of two hundred and fifty-five feet, and the space on the ground or surface within the circle of sloping floors may be used for further seats with the forty-foot (12.19m) circus ring at the centre.

The wording of the Patent registered by Charlie Keith describes the central roof of the building:

            “A stout pole is fitted in the centre of the building, and a cover made of any suitable material is secured to the top of the pole and is brought to the tops of the slanting roofs of the vehicles and secured thereto by ropes which are passed through rings fitted to the frame work of the roofs; I also employ quarter poles to steady the cover”. 

The ‘cover’ or ‘cloth’ was supplied by the circus tent maker E Saunders in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire.  They offered it ‘as Drafted…and all well roped and canvas bands’.  Their accompanying drawing shows a section of the total ‘top’, reinforced with rope at the edges and with reinforced ‘pads’ for the quarter poles, having a radius of thirty-six feet (10.972m) which has been calculated as indicating that five such sections would be needed to make up a full roof cover. 

Having performed just beforehand at his permanent building in Bradford, Yorkshire, Charlie Keith opened his Portable Circus for the first time in mid-April 1882 in Huddersfield, 15 or so hilly miles away. 

The local newspaper reported:

            “Charlie Keith the well known circus proprietor has invented … a circus which he will really be able to take up and down the country, and such circus … was open for the first time on Monday night … the erection appears to be a substantial one, that is capable of holding some 1,500 persons and though roofed with canvas will bear very favourable comparison with those requiring greater labour and a greater amount of material in their erection.  It is brilliantly illuminated with gas and the comfort of the visitors is in every possible manner attended to”. 

The Portable Circus tour concluded at the end of October.  Charlie Keith’s chronicler David Fitzroy comments:

            “The Warrington stand appears to mark the end of the carriage circus, since one week after its one week stay there, Charlie Keith again re-opened his permanent building at Bradford.  It is not known what happened to the carriages, because it would seem from further research that they were not used by Keith again”.   

HENGLER’S CIRQUE / The LONDON PALLADIUM

The London Palladium is one of Great Britain’s most famous theatres – indeed, the Palladium’s name is associated with the slogan ‘the Ace Variety Theatre of the World’.

The Palladium’s frontage in Argyll St., London, is a huge portico of Corinthian columns, familiar to everyone as its ‘public face’.  But that portico has been there a lot longer than the theatre has.

The Palladium occupies the site of the ‘town house’ of the Duke of Argyll, and the street is named after him.  In the 1860s the house was demolished and wine cellars were dug there.  Above them was a ‘bazaar’ – an early ‘department store’ – and the current portico with its elegant columns was the frontage of that building.

The owners of the site had the idea of using it for a ‘hippodrome’ (McMillan 2018).  In 1871, Charles Hengler took over the shell of the building, and that September opened his first London circus there. Hengler’s grandfather Michael had come to England from Germany in 1780; his descendants worked in circus as artistes, specialising as rope-walkers.  Charles Hengler was too tall to be as good as his brothers on the rope, so he became an equestrian and then a circus owner.  Charles built up a tenting show and made it ‘The Premier Equestrian Circus Company in Victorian Britain’ (McMillan 2018)

Hengler’s historian Stuart McMillan tells us:

            “He started tenting in the summer…In the winter he built temporary circus buildings.  He built his first proper circus building in Liverpool in 1857.  His successful seasons in Liverpool made him discontinue tenting in the summer and build wooden circus buildings in several provincial towns. Hengler’s Grand Cirques became famous for the luxury they provided for their audiences and the quality of their performers and horses”.

Hengler moved on from wooden buildings to permanent ones. His first London building was of wood; perhaps the ‘bazaar’ had been built in wood before he took over its shell.  That London ‘Cirque’ ran for twelve years, but the building was condemned as ‘unsafe’ and had to be pulled down in 1883.

In its place, Hengler built a new circus. The theatrical newspaper The Era reported in January 1885

            “…(we) have borne testimony to the splendour and liberality of his displays

…and now upon the ruins of the old circus has arisen a splendid edifice which … is to eclipse all the glories of the past”.

The solidity and safety of the building were emphasised:

            “The construction of the cirque is entirely fireproof, the walls are of brick, the staircases and corridors and the roof over corridors of cement concrete, resting on iron girders embedded in the concrete …”

            “The domed ceiling rises to a height of 46 feet (14m) from the level of the ring. The ring is 42 feet (13m) diameter, and has two main entrances for the performers and horses…The interior decoration is cream colour and gold, the ceiling being painted in Italian Renaissance ornament in gold and colours. The cirque is lighted by a large central sunlight exactly over the centre of the ring, and by eight hanging chandeliers, which depend all round over the first platform outside ring-fence…”

What a pity we have no images of the beautiful interior of that building.  But thanks to his advertising, we do have an image of the Great Real Water Spectacle, the Water Pantomime!  Reported here in the Morning Post on December 27th 1890:

            “By a most ingenious contrivance, the arena of the circus is transformed in a  few seconds into a huge lake, containing it is said 23,000 gallons (104,560 litres) of water; and the eye is charmed by the picture of rustic bridges, trees on the banks, and other adjuncts of a brilliant up-river scene in the height of summer…The children were in ecstasies of delight (at the uproarious comedy of the sequence), and even their elders could not but join them in the laughter which this boisterously merry episode evoked so abundantly…Mr Hengler… has made a bold and almost unique bid for success”

Well…sadly not quite unique, because Sanger’s Circus at Astley’s Amphitheatre that Christmas had a very similar water sequence, with a story-line remarkably similar to Hengler’s, and claimed to have even more water than Hengler did. But a report praised Hengler’s show: “Hengler’s Cirque offers the most amusing entertainment in town”.  Another went further : “Hengler’s – the best circus performance ever seen in London” !

Hengler died in 1887 and for a little while the Argyll Street circus continued under his family's management.  At the end of 1895 the lease was resold, and the circus was turned into a skating rink until 1899.  

The annual circus was revived under different managements but the entertainment here could not compare with what was being done more lavishly elsewhere – for example, the London Hippodrome had opened in 1900. Costly structural alterations were also required to bring the building to a satisfactory level of safety. The circus building closed in 1909.  Its replacement was 'a huge variety theatre'  --  the Palladium. (British History Ac 2022 (1963))

The LONDON HIPPODROME

 At the very heart of London’s West End is a circus ‘gem’, a technologically-advanced multi-purpose auditorium of great beauty, a theatre whose name means ‘circus’ to those who know its origin. 

Perhaps the date of the new building’s opening reflects great change in the style of circuses at that time.  Astley’s Amphitheatre had continued to entertain throughout the 19th century; but the building and the shows it housed were not technologically advanced.  A commemorative stone now marks its location.

The London Hippodrome opened on 15th January 1900 with a circus and variety show.  The interior was designed by the greatest theatre architect of the 19th century, Frank Matcham, whose work can also be seen at the nearby London Palladium and at the Blackpool Tower Circus. 

With kind permission, this note quotes extensively from the website arthurlloyd.co.uk  and images are also used with their permission.

The Hippodrome had been due to open some months earlier, but the highly complicated stage equipment meant that the opening was delayed.

On 29th September 1899, the Daily News headline read:  ‘London Hippodrome, a remarkable building - Postponement of the opening.' The article says: 'Compared with the London Hippodrome, the established theatres are mere affairs of the stage and auditoriums, walls and ceiling….

“The London Hippodrome is likely to rank with Madame Tussaud's and Westminster Abbey among the sights of London.

“But a penalty has had to be paid for all (this) wonderful elaboration … The public opening is "unavoidably postponed till January 6th, at 8 p.m., owing to the mechanical stage and arena requiring protracted rehearsals'.

“To inform and prepare the public…the press and other interested parties were instead invited to a private viewing of the new Theatre.

“…one sees the stalls, then "a large round space" … and beyond, a large stage.

“Then slowly the floor went down, revealing the glazed-brick wall of a pit 230ft. (70.1m) in girth. Through the eight little slits that had been opened in the floor one caught the sparkle of water, and soon these openings were penetrated by brass tubes that shot powerful jets of water nearly to the roof.

“...The large round hole has a water capacity of 100,000 gallons, and is constructed of steel boiler-plates. In the sides and bottom of the tank are glazed holes through which light can be projected into the water. 

Even today, the water tank is still in place, thanks to a preservation order. When it was full, it weighed 400 tonnes!  Other original features of the building, still in place, include access doors at the rear street level which are high and very wide to give access to elephants.

“On either side of the proscenium is an entrance arena, and when it is full of water these can be flooded to a depth sufficiently to allow of the coming and going of boats. When the floor is raised above the water - and hydraulic rams achieve the change in about a minute - the floor of the stage can be lowered to its level, giving a huge continuous area. So that the large round stage is at once a circus with surrounding wall, at another a tank, and at another an extension of the stage …

The programme for Opening Night included acts on the stage, in the circus ring, and in the water.

At other times, presentations included elephants sliding down ramps into the flooded circus ring.  In the course of an Arctic Spectacle called The North Pole, seventy-six polar bears slid down into the tank from the stage! 

This remarkable series of circuses ended in 1909 when the theatre was partially rebuilt, seating was fitted in the circus arena, and the theatre went over to variety entertainment.  Later, the original internal architecture of the auditorium was seriously damaged when the Hippodrome was converted, first to the Talk of the Town cabaret venue and later to the Stringfellow’s discotheque.

However, the building’s unique status was eventually recognised, and it was partially restored so as to preserve what remains of its unique features.

GREAT YARMOUTH HIPPODROME CIRCUS

Great Yarmouth is second only to Blackpool in its standing as a UK seaside resort.  It is the only town in Great Britain still to have a purpose-made stand-alone circus building, the beautiful Blackpool Tower Circus being part of a larger entertainment complex. 

The Great Yarmouth Hippodrome Circus was opened in 1903 by the equestrian and circus promoter George Gilbert.  It has been described as ‘the finest Palace of Entertainment in Great Britain’, and during its 120-year life has been managed by nationally famous circus names such as Hengler (McMillan2018). Local impresario Jack Jay and his son Peter bought the building in 1979 to prevent its use as a bingo hall; mercifully, Peter persuaded his father to give circus a try first! 

According to circus historian Don Stacey, the Yarmouth Hippodrome is considered to be ‘one of the best surviving seaside pleasure buildings in (this) country’.(Stacey 2003). Its frontage is in Art Nouveau style, and the building itself is of concrete, with the auditorium in brick. The roof is zinc, and (like Hengler’s London Cirque before it) the structure makes the Hippodrome practically fireproof. 

Don Stacey makes the point that, almost uniquely for a British circus building, the Hippodrome was built without including a stage, and this may have helped ensure its survival, since almost every other permanent circus building or hippodrome had its ring subsequently fitted with seating in conversion to a full-time theatre format.

The regional newspaper the Eastern Daily Press reported as follows in July 1903:

            “We would point out here that Mr Gilbert’s building is a Hippodrome of the most approved type, no place of entertainment without an arena having any claim to that name…            The fine frontage faces the Marine Parade, and is treated in the free style of the Renaissance in terracotta and red brick.  There are five entrances under four towers…these towers are placed at regular intervals with a large semi-circular arch thrown between…The main entrance is 30 feet by 20 feet and has a beautiful mosaic paved floor…

            “The total accommodation of the house is for about 4000 people”.

In fact, the capacity was well below that impressive figure, and improvements over the years to audience comfort mean there are about 850 seats at the present time.

The Eastern Daily Press continued:

            “A very fine feature of the interior is the handsome arched ceiling, the greatest span of which is 98 feet without a single support…The roof is double, the designer having by this arrangement secured silence to the adjoining properties”.

Of great interest is the mechanism which allows the circus ring to be flooded for water spectacles.  I am told by Peter Jay, owner of the Hippodrome, that the system remains as it was constructed in 1903, except for the means of lifting the wooden ring floor back into place.  Mr Jay kindly provided me with the detailed note which follows; I have edited it slightly for clarity.

            “The water works like this.  Most if it is under the (ring) floor all time, filtered and chemically-treated all year round, heated to 86 degrees only when shows are on, heated by electricity … water is below (ring) floor just below all the massive metal structure, rest of water is in the original tank at the top of south side ramp to (the circus) ring.  When we drop it, it goes like this, there’s an original valve we let go at the bottom of the tank, the water flows down into the ring and comes up just over the wooden floor, this takes some of the weight off the rams holding it up (I only know this as once it hadn’t been topped up and it was impossible to pull the levers). This gives us about two inches of water over the floor , we often use this as a dance setting … At this point we have four levers spaced round the edge.  There are also two in the centre which we pull during the interval.  The last four are then pulled on a whistle signal, they must be pulled together and then the floor drops down channels, all of which takes exactly 30 seconds.

“The only thing changed from this 1903 triumph of British engineering is how we get it up after a show. We have four heavy steel tripods we bring in after the show and we winch up with four big Tirfors, takes about 20 minutes to get it all back, the rams push back in and carpets back.  

“Afterwards, the water is pumped back (to the tank) by a large electric motor, about two or three feet (depth) of water (from the circus ring) goes back into the tank, the rest stays under (the ring) floor.

“It’s always tickled me that this was obviously a cheaper way of doing it, all the others like the Tower had massive old school engines to work it, and our one is one of the only ones still working perfectly”.

Peter Jay’s final comment is based on his experience as producer for some years of the Blackpool Tower Circus, where the more complicated mechanism failed several times during performances.  Like many aspects of circus, the Hippodrome system relies on human teamwork and coordination.