Clowning is an age old art. In ancient Greece large, bald headed buffoons appeared in plays, throwing nuts at the audience. The earliest known Circus clown was the famous Joseph Grimaldi who appeared in England in 1805. Known as “Joey” Grimaldi’s clown did all the classic tricks – ‘pretend magic’, falling over and all forms of slapstick. These days, there is one main type of clown that we see in circuses. He usually wears battered, torn clothes, bright colourful make up, and pretends to be clumsy and raucous. Such a clown is Charlie Rednose.
“The Charlie Rednose Show” has been around Australia four times, performing at show grounds, music halls, rodeos and other venues. Charlie Rednose also toured with the “Swiss Circus Royale” and “Ashtons Circus” and is still respected by Circus people and the country music industry alike. The original Charlie Rednose, Buck Carson, had an amazing repertoire of visual and musical acts:-
Ropespinning, Whip Cracking, Knife Throwing, Sharp Shooting, Magic & illusions, Unicycling Comedy, Yodelling & Country Music.
After twenty five years of entertaining Australia, Buck has retired to the leisurely life and has selected Lisa Dean as his apprentice.
Lisa Dean worked on the “Buck Carson Show” and “The Charlie Rednose Show” between 1988 and 1998 and has proved a more than worthy successor. Lisa Dean brings to the Show a new set of talents including : Ventriloquism, Folk music & juggling. Essentially though, the show is faithful to Buck’s format and incorporates many of the same tricks and comedy routines. Charlie is a “rough and rowdy” clown who’s versatility suits a wide range of audiences - from children aged seven and up, right through to adults.
Alice in Wonderland's Madhatter Adventures NEW!
Let your children explore the wonderful land of fantasy, with the Alice in Wonderland presentation. A number of whacky and mad characters, straight out of fantasy land interact and provide storytelling, fantasy and comedy in this unique theme party! Adventure into a world where things that are big become small and the invisible becomes visible!
Our feature artist for this presentation is Caitlin Williams (pictured left), a young, self taught talent who has a natural ability to entertain and hold young audiences attention. Her life long fascination with Alice has led her to study the characters of Lewis Carroll's original classic completely, enabling her to provide a unique and thoughtfully crafted characterisation.
Caitlin is "Alice", you can call her Alice, she enters the world of fantasy and emerges the REAL Alice. Complemented by her sense of humour, her love of life and cheerful nature, her innocence, compassion and integrity, Caitlin was recognised by Lisa as having all the best ingredients for a children's entertainer. Caitlin is a known personality in her local area around Macedon and Sunbury for her work providing fairy parties and fairy storytelling for the local festivals. Caitlin is recognised by her friends as the "fairy" Caitlin - her work is such a part of her identity.
FACE PAINTING CARDS
Alice in Wonderland face painters are usually the playing cards, and at a busy function will create spot face painting of hearts and spades, and other faces featured in the story. Spot face painting and the characteristic "Faces to Remember" masks are available to provide the face painting for this theme.
WANDERING ALICE
Caitlin's extraordinary ability to characterise and improvise make her an excellent roving entertainer, combining comedy, fun, and spectacle. As Alice she will be providing "white rabbit" balloon sculptures, blowing bubbles, performing simple dance sketches, with songs for the children to dance to and activity songs created by Lisa Dean reflecting the details of Lewis Carroll's story.
MADHATTER FUN SHOW!
This performance is an adaption of the Charlie Rednose Show - fast moving variety, with audience participation, singing, magic, fortune telling, giveaways and specially created Lisa Dean / Alice humour. Recommended for the primary shool age group. White rabbit balloons and meet and greet characterisations before and after the shows.
