Beware: This is a review of a past Halloween event. Therefore, do not use it as a basis upon which to preview the same event this year, and please note that the event may not necessarily be taking place this year. Please use our guide for an overview of this years' Halloween attractions. 

Halloween Spooktacular, Alton Towers (2004)

Despite apparently being, the pioneering park in the UK, packed to the brim with fantastic, technologically stunning rides and attractions, as of recent, Alton Towers usually miss the mark with shows and entertainment.

Up to about six or seven years ago, low scale, yet entertaining productions were an important part of the ‘magic’ of the day. Fountain Square hosted a rock show at regular intervals, Peter Rabbit on Ice was popular with young audiences, and a Magic Show entertained guests in the theatre that now hosts the dubious ‘Tweenies’ show. Further more, walk around entertainers, of all sorts of varieties were spread across the park. They weren't capable of producing the G-Forces of a space launch, but had an undeniable memorability. Oh, how we hanker for the old days.

Alton seem very determined to keep their ‘magical’ ice shows as a regular feature at the park, although these days, seemingly only during the busier summer months and again at Halloween, with varying levels of success.

This season’s offering, Circus of Illusion, was a definite improvement on the techno-twoddle that was ‘Webmaster on Ice’, housing the theatre for two previous seasons. It revolved simply but effectively around the premise that a magical Circus was on at the Alton Towers (apparently timeless) Big Top, and featured a pre-show full of reminders of ice shows, past. What followed was a cavalcade of jolly clowns, a peppy soundtrack, and illusions of various magnitude. Like the 2003 Halloween show it stemmed from, it didn’t re-write the rule book, or break new ground, yet remained undoubtedly enjoyable.

Fans of the above show, will not be disappointed with this year’s spooky spectacle. Simply because, its nigh on identical to what ran up to a mere month earlier.

Although it was rumoured that this years Halloween events were scrapped, Alton seem to have the event in swing, sans the pretty excellent Terror of the Towers. Towers Street is covered in an orange and black motif, green lights enigmatically shining down come sundown, for the ‘Nightmare on Towers Street’ carnival, creepy figures and skulls lining the paving.

I suspect the decision to host the show, was a reasonably recent one. Not only from the likening of the show to the recent production, but because the park and its staff seemingly cant decide whether the show is called ‘Halloween Circus on Ice’, ‘Spooktacular on Ice, ‘Halloween on Ice’, or ‘Cirque du Halloween.’ The entrance banner is a glow in the dark motif, surrounded by pumpkins.

As you enter the arena, mist slowly falls from the edge of the stage wrapped in a huge, spookily lit curtain. As guests gather to their seats, the resident ushers urge the crowd into the fun, with some reasonably irritating audience banter and participation, which works well or not depending on the talent of the host.

A ghostly voice announces the wondrously creepy show were about to witness, similar to the spiel used earlier in the year, but with the words like ‘magical and marvellous’, changed to ‘spooky and chilling’. Guests and regulars, having seen the show sometimes throughout the summer months, will notice this trend continues for the next twenty-five minutes.

With an attention catching crack of thunder and lightening, the curtain falls to reveal a colourful set, still shrouded in mist. The screen at the background crackles to life, with some reasonably random black and white, old style footage of clowns preparing for the show. This is followed by a circus montage, prompting our ghostly host to inform us the performers we see, are long gone, yet their spirits live on…

Our extravagant host, appears into the light of the stage, laughing, arms raised. Dressed in velvet, sporting a proper ringmaster’s top hat, he is soon followed by a bevy of colourful performers onto the rink, welcoming us proudly to his ‘Cirque Du Halloween’…

Resisting the usual urge to appear to the ubiquitous ‘Let me Entertain You’, the crew instead skate quickly around to a lengthy mix of different upbeat tracks, lyrics predictably changed to Halloween phrases. The irony being, that the Ringmaster nor his cohorts, are dressed in anything remotely spooky. Like at the end of seemingly every segment, our leader throws his arms in the air, laughing manically, and striding around the scenery to a level, where I suspect he takes this form of travel everywhere he goes.

The first illusion involves taking a surprised female performer, and through a revolving cabinet, turning parts of her body round in complete circles. It’s a tried and tested, clever crowd pleaser and orchestrated well to a wacky circus music theme. More of the performers make good use of the stage to ‘clown around’, chasing each other and squirting the audience with water pistols. 

With a flash, the stage goes dark, the performers try and scarper, as a troupe of less friendly looking Mardi Gras style clowns arrive, to a techno beat. The decent dance track, encourages the audience to clap along, to what is no doubt the most visually impressive chapter of the show. As well as the energetic green, pink and yellow performers glowing in the dark, strobes and a fantastic green laser illuminate the stage and performers. This segment is ruined slightly, by an effect new for Halloween. A large, tacky looking puppet representing one of the clowns, is transported around the rim of the stage, leering at the front rows. Sadly, along with the puppet being less than impressive, the two staff members carrying it are well visible.

More illusions follow, though nothing fantastic. In fact a lot of time runs away, preparing the illusions. Except for one section, in which a male and female performer do a cracking well rehearsed dance to the distinctly un-Halloween, ‘Little Bit of History Repeated’, the performers tend to mill around on stage with little to do. Luckily, these dead spots may be regrettably often, but remain short.

Somewhere in the middle, is a gutsy rendition of ‘I Love Rock N’ Roll’, as clowns bizarrely weld the scenery, flame throwers blasting to the music. Our Ringmaster, engages in his natural style, striding around, waving his arms in the air, as it goes on.

Soon, a woman is sliced in half with a laser (and still manages to sing!), there's a spot of fire juggling, and another lady manages to appear from nowhere in a previously empty barred cage. I’m unsure whether it’s a sly nod to fans, or a case of sticking with what the park know, that all these tricks were used in the previously mentioned Magic Show of old. My thoughts are suspect towards the latter, but they still remain seemingly well appreciated by the audience.

One ‘trick’ that probably remains only manageable in the reasonably vast arena, is the most attention grabbing display of acrobatic work near the end of the show. A smile will no doubt raise on the face of fathers and male teenagers in the show, as a reasonably scantily clad female vampire emerges to climb high on a rope, and engage in a variety of risky looking acrobatic moves, spinning and writhing around the thick velvet. The smoke machines fill the stage, as dramatic lighting spotlights her gravity defying moves, to the tune of ‘Cry, Little Sister’.

Soon after, all the performers gather on stage, skating in unison to ‘That’s Entertainment’, waving their goodbyes, the set pieces spin around to reveal a large set of glittery confetti, mirrored walls, donned with pumpkins, as glitter falls from the ceiling with a bang. Our ghostly voice host and the performers wish us farewell, as the lights raise.

Spooktacular on Ice is a more than serviceable production. It hits the mark with the majority of aspects, and offers a variety of different performance types, at a decent pace. It is possibly a good thing that the ice show is an aspect that a lot of guests at Alton seem to miss out on. The fact that this is simply a re-hash of a show that stemmed from a much more original version of the Halloween production, last year, seems disappointing and a little careless.

A disappointing aspect of the show, and one which more guests will undoubtedly catch on to, is the lack of actual Halloween based material in the show. The opening spiel promises something much more thematic for the season, than what eventually appears in front of us. The costumes bare no spooky style, and at times the script seemingly simply calls for your average ice show, with the odd Halloween nuance thrown in for good measure.

The above however, is what the show sets out to be. And in that respect, it succeeds without doubt.

JT 31 October 2004

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