Circus preparations

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33399, 4 December 1973, Page 18

Circus preparations

The young Australian entrepeneur, Mr M. Edgley, has arrived in Christchurch a month ahead of time to smooth the way for the arrival in the city in January of the 1974 Great Moscow circus.

“The Russian circus is a million dollar investment — an enormous project in every way — and I am here to see that nothing goes wrong,” he said. The 1974 circus was completely new and none of the Russians associated with it had been to “:w Zealand before, he said. “For the 12-week tour it costs us $150,000 a week and we have to make 12 times this amount before we eam a cent. The expenses of the Russian troupe of about 75 are relatively minimal. The !major cost is in the support services such as the big tent and the shin .vhich we have chartered which is bringing the animals and the circus equipment from Vladivostok to Lyttelton.”

An are-- of major concern [for Mr Edglev is in starting [the tour in Christchurch. “Had we gc ie the nc. _.a> way and began in Auckland it would have landed us in when the Commonwealth Games were in full swing and from a theatri-

cal point of view this could have been disastrous. No-one is interested in seeing a show when a major sporting event like that is in town.”

After this tour the Moscow circus will not be seen in New Zealand for another six years, according to Mr Edgley. Normally it took about three years to select and sign up the circus acts to take on tour from the 7000 circus artists in the Soviet Union, he said. Although Russian shows were popular, each show he brought out called for tougher and higher standards as the public had come to expect high-calibre entertainment.

It was wrong to assume that his company had cornered the market on Russian shows, he said. “We look on ourselves as entrepreneurs of the best shows we can find in the world.

“For example look at the line up for Christchurch next year. There is the farewell performance of Dame Margot Fonteyn and the Scottish Theatre Ballet Company, the Georgian Dancers, Disney on Parade, the Russian Olympic gymnastic team with Olga Korbut, and the Stuttgart Ballet.”

Recently Christchurch audiences saw the Kwangchow Acrobatic Troupe from China which, Mr Edgely said, could not have been brought to Australia and New Zealand without the co-operation of the Australian Prime Minister (Mr Whitlam). “We spent quite a long time trying to get the troupe out here but it was a personal letter from Mr Whitlam to me which literally opened the door. Once the Chinese saw that they very quickly completed negotiations.