A North East man whose working life began selling hotdogs in Newcastle’s Bigg Market has returned to the region leading a circus company.
Anthony Anderson, who grew up in Hartlepool, is one of the directors of the European Entertainment Corporation, which is staging the Circus Extreme show on Newcastle’s Nuns Moor for the next 10 days.
Mr Anderson’s early career saw him joining a local poster distribution company, with one of his first assignments being to distribute flyers for the Moscow State Circus.
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He later set up his own poster distribution company for the events sector, which led him to become involved in touring shows theatres and festivals. He later bought the Moscow State Circus and also developed the Circus Berlin brand, and is now leading the Circus Extreme show.
The show - which combines traditional circus acts with elements of stunt shows - employs 26 performers and 70 people in all. The touring operation takes more than 30 trucks to transport its equipment between dates.
Much of the company’s operations were halted last year due to the pandemic, but Circus Extreme has returned with a show that is putting on dates in Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol, Torquay, Plymouth and London after its stay in Newcastle.
Mr Anderson said: “Circuses are constantly changing with the times and it evolves so quickly, the scene. The mindset is very different - people want to entertain, and whatever happens, the show will always go on.
“I see it as a business but it is showbusiness at the end of the day; the most important thing is the show.”
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The Circus Extreme show was put on hold during the pandemic after European Entertainment decided it was too hard to get performers from overseas into the country and provide a top-class show while audience numbers were likely to be low.
He added: “I wanted Newcastle to be the first place we re-opened, but it wasn’t possible quite possible to sort the dates. Being from the North East, we like to get the region involved and perform for them.
“Being from the North East, I know my family and friends have all been down and you can see they all want to go out do something. This is a big event, a massive spectacle and really entertaining.”
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