The Circus comes to town: Burlesque and sideshow act to entertain adults in unique way

By Megan Hurt

Fire-eaters, sword swallowing and half-naked women.
UK students will get the chance to see all these things and more when The Pretty Things Peep Show perform their 17 Acts show Monday at Cosmic Charlie’s.
The Pretty Things Peep Show is a 1940s-style travelling burlesque and sideshow, which includes pin-up-style girls stripping down to their skivvies along with comedy and circus sideshow acts.
“It’s the best show you’re ever going to see,” said go-go Amy, one of the burlesque dancers and producers of the show. “It’s a blast from the past with a modern twist.”
Go-go Amy and Bettina May, her friend and fellow burlesque dancer, created The Pretty Things Peep Show.  While she was interested in creating a burlesque show, go-go Amy also wanted to include sideshow acts to entertain the crowd.
“It adds variety,” she said, “ It keeps it interesting, keeps the audience on their toes. You’ll never know what’s going to happen next. It makes for a lot more interesting evening.”
The sideshow acts in the show, which last two to two and a half hours long, include sword swallowing, glass-eating, chain saw juggling, bed of nails, fire eating and more, according to The Pretty Things Peep Show Web site.
All these acts, including the burlesque dancing, create an intriguing and diverse crowd, go-go Amy said.
“There’s a lot of cheering, hooting and hollering. There are a few acts that people are quieter, cause people are amazed by it,” she said. “It’s a show that is attractive to a wide variety of people … it’s like going to the circus for adults.”
Go-go Amy said college students really get into the acts of the show and it provides an interesting night for students to tell their friends about later.
“This is not something you’re going to see everyday,” she said. “All of your friends will be jealous of you for seeing this. You get to send tons of jealousy texts and you’ll have tons to talk about for a couple of months.”
The Pretty Things Peep Show will be Monday at 9 p.m. at Cosmic Charlie’s. Doors open at 8 p.m. and tickets cost $10. Two local performers will be included in the show, Paige Hankla and Eric Myers. For more information about The Pretty Things Peep Show visit their Web site at (http://www.prettythingsproductions.com/).