Oh what a circus, oh what a show!

If someone told you the world’s finest potato-themed cabaret was making its way to rural Devon, you might raise an eyebrow.

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But for Emmelita Puddy, who lives in Bristol, it’s just another audacious chapter in a career defined by gravity-defying stunts, unlikely stages and a deep-rooted passion for laughter.

She isn’t your average performer. She's the brains and bounce behind ‘The Moulin Bouge - a glorious mash-up of circus, comedy, cabaret and carbs that's captivated audiences from Brighton to Bideford. But before she was running a theatre company with a dog that plays piano (yes, really), she was just a “weird kid from Lundy’; uncertain that the arts could ever be a real job. What followed was a life carved out of risk, resilience and relentless creativity.

Born and raised in North Devon, Emmelita remembers a childhood brimming with movement. “I was always a very active person with a lot of hobbies like sports and dance,’ she says. Whether it was energy to burn or a need to keep out of trouble, the young Emmelita kept busy. “I think a lot of my teachers would have described me as a ‘class clown’ (or just a pain)... Turns out I was just already in training to be silly professionally”

Despite an early stint in a school play - an admittedly disastrous one - she didn’t foresee the stage as her calling. “During my time growing up I would never have imagined that I'd become an artist,” she says.

“We went to see the circus when it came to visit but I didn't imagine there'd be such a thing as a circus school or that I'd ever go to one!”

It wasn’t until she encountered trapeze at a workshop at age 15 that her trajectory began to shift. “I tried to continue on a more conventional path... but once I found out there was a circus school called Circomedia in Bristol I was on a mission to go there” And she did, earning her place at one of the UK's premier performance institutions.