12-4pm, Saturday 12th December – Free Event
A taste of the UK’s only festival of magic, new variety and circus will be on show in Leopold Square, Sheffield, on Saturday 12th December.
Taking place from 12pm-4pm, the free event will play host to a magician, a fire breather, clown, a human statue, stilt walker and circus ringmaster and aims to inject a bit of magic into the town for families while they are in town for their Christmas shopping.
The event is organised by Blackpool’s tourism body visitBlackpool, who is bringing a taste of Showzam to an number of towns in the run up to the main festival that takes place in Blackpool during next February half term (Friday 12th February- Sunday 21st February 2010). Now in its third year, Showzam will feature some of the world’s most exciting and talented artists appearing across Blackpool at famous venues including The Tower Circus, The Winter Gardens, The Tower Ballroom, The Grand Theatre and Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
Confirmed acts for Showzam include the critically acclaimed La Clique, Spymonkey, The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, La Machine, Ockham’s Razor and Walk the Plank.
Showzam will also see Blackpool’s historic Winter Gardens’ transformed into Showzam Central - a free area where visitors will get to experience restored, traditional sideshows from the 1950s, The Insect Museum, an Edwardian flea circus, live cabaret, new variety performances and special film screenings. Showzam Central will also host Humbug - an exclusive exhibition focusing on the 200th anniversary of infamous American showman and circus founder PT Barnum.
Professor Vanessa Toulmin from the University of Sheffield and director of the National Fairground Archive is artistic advisor to Showzam. Vanessa said: "There are so many different elements to Showzam, it can sometimes be difficult to explain what the festival is all about. By taking a small piece of it on the road, we can give the public an idea of the variety of entertainment available and hopefully encourage them to buy their tickets before they sell out.
"As an advisor to Showzam, and a Professor at the University of Sheffield, it made sense to bring our first roadshow event to Sheffield and we're looking forward to providing the public with a taste of Showzam alongside a welcome respite from Christmas shopping."
visitBlackpool’s Claire Turner, Festival Director of Showzam , said: “The line-up we have put together for Showzam is our strongest yet and I’m thrilled we are bringing a taste of the festival’s magic to Sheffield this weekend. We have attracted audiences from Yorkshire to previous Showzam festivals,l and our strong partnership with the University and the National Fairground Archive creates a natural link with the city. We hope they are entertained by our little taste of Showzam, and find out more of the incredible artists taking part this year, including those from Sheffield”