BATH, England, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- Circus showman Gerry Cottle has revealed plans to open his own school in England aimed at reviving the traditional concepts behind the circus art form.
The Independent said the 61-year-old circus veteran, who joined the circus at 15 after running away from home, decided to open his own training institute after finding that modern locales like London's Circus Space were not offering traditional training.
"I think circus is at a terrible crossroads," Cottle said. "Traditionalists have got to get out of their minds that animals aren't ever going to come back -- the majority of the public don't want them any more. And the new circuses are trying to impress each other, not audiences."
Cottle's decision to open a 500-seat new school at the Somerset tourist cave, Wookey Hole, revisits a controversial divide in Britain between traditional circus performers and more modern circuses.
The paper said Cottle addresses the conflict in his autobiography, "Confessions of a Showman: My Life in the Circus," which was published Thursday.
