It was with great regret that I learned of the passing away of friend & Artistic Director to the Circus of Horrors Pierrot Bidon.
He was due to travel to England in October 09 to direct the new Circus of Horrors show ‘Day of the Dead’ but unfortunately his illness prevented
him traveling.
He seemed to be getting better though, and when I spoke to him in December 09 he told me ‘the alien is dead (referring to the cancer) but the
clown is alive’. He was looking forward to coming to the UK to see the new show.
Unfortunately, it appears the cancer returned and he passed away on March 9th 2010 it was a horrible shock to us all.
Back in 1995 when the Circus of Horrors was conceived, both Myself and Gerry Cottle had one name at the top of our shopping list to direct the new venture. That name was the creator and artistic director of the crazy French chainsaw slinging, Circus Archaos.
Prior to Archaos, Pierrot had a troupe of performing chickens and was a trapeze artist in his own horse driven show, 'Circus Bidon', but once Pierrot swapped his horses for motor bikes, and his elephant was a fork lift truck.
The legend of Archaos went on to rule the world. It is fair to say however, that by the mid 90's Pierrot too was looking for a new challenge, so the offer to become artistic director of the 'Circus of Horrors' came at a perfect time for him, but before he committed himself, he wanted to hear the music.
Thankfully he loved it and he was on board. during the next 5 years as the circus of horrors toured the world, Pierrot would come along and direct proceedings, by this point he had moved to Brazil with his wife Anna, and then back to France again, directing and creating his own shows along the way. These included 'Circo Da Madrugada' and Circo Paradiso' (Brazil) plus 'Circus babobab's (Guinea).
It is almost 15 years since from his first taste of blood with the 'Circus of Horrors', he returned as consultant of artistic direction for the Circus of Horrors show 'The Asylum' and although illness prevented him being involved in ‘Day of the Dead’, he would certainly have been invited to direct the new Circus of Horrors show scheduled to commence in October.
To put in in a nutshell Pierrot was a genius, a forerunner for the alternative & contemporary Circus movement, without his madness there would have been no Cirque Du Soleil and no Circus of Horrors, he inspired Horrors, and as a personal friend as well as work colleague he will be greatly missed.
The final chapter of our new show The Four Chapters From Hell will be a tribute to & dedicated to the memory of Pierrot, we will reinact our very first COH show Sin City. Set in 2020 an apocalyptic vision of a Mad Max / Steam Punk future, very Archaos, very Circus of Horrors & Very Pierrot Bidon.
The spirit lives when the body dies so let raise a glass to the afterlife
Dr Haze