AN ENGLISH CIRCUS

Hokitika Guardian, 4 December 1929, Page 8

AN ENGLISH CIRCUS

IN MANCHURIA. (By Sir Percivnl Phillips^. MUKDEN, Oct 17. There was never a more successful ‘first night” at any West Enu inentre. Stalls and pit rocked with laughter at every quip and gesture of the comedians; the dramatic incidents were violently applauded; while as for tnt= leading lady in her tights and spangles ner every effort was rewarded witn « volley of hand-clapping like machinegun lire.

The theatre was a tent, the audience were wholly Chinese, and the “first night” production was an English one. Harmston’s Circus hud come back to .Mukden.

imagine an old-fashioned English circus as one of the most popular entertainments in Manchuria ! A circus complete with clowns (really funny ones) speaking, when off dutj;, the language of Manchester and the Strand; Engfi'sh trapeze performers (girls and pretty too) ; a ringmaster who is constantly baited by the clowns; intelligently trained horses, a band, and a small but adequate collection of the wild and voracious beasts of the jungle.

Hariuston’s Circus is an old-estab-lished institution in the Far East. The original Harmston, who came out of England when a young man—and that was more than half a century ago^ — founded it in a modest way. His son, the .present proprietor and manager, has been with it since lie was six years’ old. Year after year the circus follows its familiar route through a good part of Asia; the China ports and Mancuuria in summer, the Philippines, Java, Malaya, and India the rest of the vear.

It never goes into winter quarters because it avoids winter. Mukden is the northern frontier of one season. Now that the nights are nipped by frost, the circus is turning southward again. The clowns will be wearing topees by the time Manchuria is buttoning itself into furs. It is a cireus of modest dimensions, and for that reason all the more friendly and entertaining. The pitch it holds here is a vacant lot at one side of a modern boulevard in the Japanese settlement. There is a main tent, complete, with comfortable seats to suit all pockets, a ring brightly lit and gay with flags, and a smaller tent containing the wild and voracious beasts of the jungle. These incluue three small-scale elephants, a bored tiger, a lion, and a few less spectacular animals which are meant merely to be looked at. The great feature is contributed by the trained horses, of which Mr Harmston and his wife are justly proud. Though an English circus, 20 nationalities are represented on the pay roll. The performers have been drawn from various European countries, and tne transport labour is performed by Javanese coolies. It is an almost incredible fact that despite the unrest in China and consequent disturbance of communications, Harmston’s lias placidly gone its rounds without serious delay or inconvenience. The Chinese are inordinately fond qf this entertainment. They return night after night to watch the same clowning and, the same skilful feats of horsemanship; they wait excitedly for the wooden harrier to be withdrawn from the main entrance and push in to the ticket booth like schoolboys oli holiday. Little children holding fearfully to their mothers’ Rands, are takfen to see the wild and voracious beasts of the jungle and to feed the elephants with buns, just as at Regent’s Park. Revolutions flow and ebb around Harmston’s Circus and leave it untouched. The audience is often composed of the soldiers of one military faction, who are succeeded, a little later by their victorous opponents, but the money comes in just the the same. It is a welcome respite from civil war to- sit in the bright little tent and laugh loudy at the absurd antics, of a buffoon in wide white trousers and a painted face. In fact I am inclined to believe that Harmston is an excellent antidote to Chinese politics. His show is no less popular with Europeans. It can play for weeks in large communities like Shanghai, without a painful shrinkage of the boxoffice receipts. Diplomats can be seen smiling carefully from cushioned chairs when the circus visits Peking. 011 the occasion of the last visit the tents were pitched on the glacis of the Legation quarter by permission of the French Minister on condition that the members of the Legation Guard were admitted free. Touring with Harmston is anything but a lazy life. His performers are working all the time. Since the circus never lapses into winter quarters, as cireusses do in other parts of the world, new acts must he prepared in the intervals between performances. Mr. Harmston himself is always busy training horses. The clowns must evolve fresh antics of their diverse public. The trapeze artists are constantly thinking out variations of their displav on the rings and crossbars. The mysterious East is all around ' them but, they might as well he in Wigan.