Digested week: a night out at the circus leaves lots to think about | Emma Brockes

Like other modern entertainment, a self-help script aims to lift the evening from merely diverting to inspirational

At the weekend, we went to the Big Apple Circus, and let me tell you those places have changed. Instead of a sad elephant chained up outside the Big Top - standard in my childhood, unthinkable today - there is Diana Vedyashkina and her adorable dachshunds!" Creepy clowns are out; Jim Carrey-type stuntmen are in. The ringmaster is called Alan and delivers a long speech about realising one's dreams and the tightrope artist brings on his 70-year-old mother, who, he informs us, has just had a hip replacement, and has her do a quick turn on the wire. It is an extremely satisfying night out.