Back after the break they have lifted another ring into place and whilst a girl dangling from the roof is trying to distract us we are all actually watching them build a rickety cage and as expected it is soon filled with 5 lions 1 tiger and a rather reluctant and rather small black panther (or maybe a cougar who knows). Anyway the ring is quite small so they take it in turns to do their tricks. The tiger having seen it all before keeps falling asleep and the lions a left to lead the entertainment. Walking in and out of poles and jumping through hoops and over fire (quite small fire sticks actually). Out ring master is also the lion tamer however I doubt the animals are bothered. They go through their routine and then escape down the tunnel to what ever feast they get for supper. The Small black thing is last to leave and seems bent on refusing to be involved in any of the activities. I have to say the Tiger was rather large and I am sure had it wanted to it could have taken them all out with a couple of easy swipes of some huge paws.
Yet another ring is lifted up from the subterranean area and this one starts to fill with water. We muse maybe dolphins or at the very least sea lions. There is a lot of water being pumped into the thing and it takes probably 10 minutes to get to a decent depth. What do we get? We get “parrots” which seem pretty tame after all that build up and to cap it all one flies off into the rafters and can not be induced to come back. The handlers are probably the most scary part, the guy looks like he is albino far too pale but maybe it is the costume. Now parrots are colourful but not really attention grabbers so the act soon passes.
After this we get the boxing kangaroo which keeps forgetting the script and needs reminding to punch (then kick) its opponent who has a very hefty chest protection suit on. Maybe the water is to stop it gettign away or maybe they are just showing off that they have it anyway the significance escapes me.
After this they start to call it a day and we get another parade with all the girls and anyone else they can muster prancing around the outside of the ring. There is so much sparkle it is difficult to focus on any single item and it sort of fizzles out as the ring master and the young boy who started it all climbing a large set of stairs and waving as hard as they could until the lights come on and everyone get up to leave.
We queue for our coats along with everyone else and make our way to the exit and the Metro. All in all a very entertaining evening and one which will live in memory for a while. It is not often you get to visit one of these iconic things. I remember as a child watching the famous “Moscow State Circus” on the TV along with the annual Military Tattoo ( they pulled guns around and took them to pieces in a race ) and of course who could forget the Brian Rix Farce’s wich were also an annual event. (Hey its my blog so I will be as nostalgic as I want) Google these if you think my memory is failing I am getting on a bit now but they were a big deal back in the day.