SHOWZAM! 2015 - IT JUST GETS BETTER

The historic entertainment complex will welcome visitors to Showzam! Central – the hub of all activity that draws people to the popular festival.

In past years Showzam! Central – an arena offering side shows, performances and the chance to practise your circus skills – has been based in the Winter Gardens’ Olympia.

But for 2015 Showzam! Central will see more than 100 performances taking place across the Winter Gardens giving people the opportunity to see much more of the venue.

The magnificent Floral Hall, Horseshoe, Pavilion Theatre, Grand Vestibule and newly refurbished Derham Lounge will all host acts for three days from February 15 – 17.

Michael Trainor is Artistic Director at LeftCoast – the organisation commissioned to programme this year’s festival – and he said the changes to Showzam! Central are incredibly exciting.

He said: “Showzam! Central has something on offer for everyone and we are really excited to have been able to programme such wide and varied activities.

“I believe having the artistes performing throughout the Winter Gardens will add something totally new to the festival and I am really looking forward to seeing people’s faces as they wander into this magnificent building to bump into such things as a crazy coiffeur from France and the roller-skating jet-back propelled Ulik from Germany.

“The building is amazing anyway so to inject such impressive acts from across the world into its many venues over the course of the festival is really exciting.”

As well as the Mysterieuse Coiffures who will transform hair and the jet-propelled Ulik, highlights in Showzam! Central include death-defying stuntwoman and hula-hooper extraordinaire Abi Collins, acrobatics and juggling from the Magmanus Circus Show, Hocus Pocus Theatre’s Sideshow of Curiosities where you can take part in a spooky séance, have your fortune read and meet a bearded lady and the opportunity to be tempted by the Belgian Butcher’s Boucherie Bacul.

Brave swashbucklers are invited to wander inside a lavishly decorated 50ft inflatable sperm whale and encounter a shipwrecked pirate and mermaid, while Portuguese Balkan and Ska influenced band Kumpania Algazarra will be performing live throughout the venue and around the town centre.

There will also be the opportunity to practice your circus skills and take part in workshops with the hugely talented Lost in Translation circus who performed at Showzam! in 2014.

Michael added: “There is so much going on in Showzam! Central with something of interest for everyone. The whole idea is to keep all our acts as varied as possible while ensuring we celebrate all that is circus.

“This programme does that and we look forward to welcoming visitors and local residents.”

Cllr Graham Cain, Blackpool Council’s cabinet member for tourism and leisure, said: “The countdown to Showzam! is now on and I’m extremely pleased with the line-up that has been put together.

“I’m really looking forward to the week getting underway and I would urge people to snap up their tickets now.”

Showzam! 2015 runs from February 14 – 18. To find out more go to www.showzam.co.uk