I’ll admit it.
I was worried the Electric Hamster Races Great Yarmouth Hippodrome show would be a disaster. Promotion was slim on the ground, the cast only had a week to rehearse, and who knew what deranged scrawling Amster Adam had come up with as a script.
By the end of the play, my jaw had hit the floor: The Incredible (But True) Story of Hamster Racing (Plus a Little Bit of Gerbil) may well have been the best thing I’ve ever seen produced in a theatre.
From the chaos and spectacle of its set pieces, through to the beauty of its live music, from its side splitting humour, to its touching, heartfelt nature, the show genuinely ticked all the boxes, making the audience laugh, cry and shout at the stage with enthusiasm!
At its core, an autobiography of the Electric Hamster Race’s creator, Amster Adam, the show details the last two decades or so of his life, and the journey the Hamsters have had from being an idea had while wrapping presents through to its current status as one of the best loved festival institutions in East Anglia.
Adam began the show gently, easing us in by talking about the venue itself. Built in 1903, he enthused about how the Hippodrome, one of only two circuses in the UK with a sinking floor, had hosted stars of the silent film era like Charlie Chaplin and Harry Houdini. But what excited him most was one particular past performance—Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.
Our host beamed as he painted the picture, speaking about Bill’s stage crew sinking the floor, exposing the pool and having a canoe load of Native Americans launch itself over a simulated waterfall. As he talked about what had happened right where he was standing, 100 odd years ago, the glee was clear in his eyes and any nerves he may have felt were hidden so well that no one in the audience could see them.
Before we knew it, Adam had eased himself into the narrative proper, and was sitting at a table covered in wrapped presents, just before Christmas 1999. Examining the first electric hamster, Hilly, which he had bought as a gift for his daughter that year, our host continued his monologue, exposing us to his frantic creative thought process. Ideas built quickly. What started as simple fun with his family soon turned into a full-fledged project—a pool table-sized track complete with a grandstand, touring Norfolk’s pubs!
At this point, we were introduced to the first of his cast. Made up of dedicated members of his usual festival crew, Adams’ gang of amateur actors somehow formed a believable pub crowd to watch the recreation of the first ever electric hamster race.
Now, for a brief explanation on the racing itself, as it usually follows a certain formula: four Electric Hamsters are introduced: names like Bouncy Bob, Hamsterminator 2 and Flash Harry fill the air. The battery powered rodents are placed into their lanes, recessed in the previously mentioned track.
The race begins, the starting gate opens and they’re off, their little motors whirring as they rush to finish three laps around the figure of 8, sometimes reaching speeds of up to three and a half miles an hour. If they get stuck, as they often do when passing over the bridge in the centre of the track, the hand-prongulator is used to free them. The winner goes on to a grand final, while the losers pass away down the walk of shame.
In the Hippodrome, the audience howled from their seats as the first race began, each member of the crowd backing their hamster the hilt. Some more dedicated fans went rogue from Adam’s suggested seating based recommendations on who to back, and instead supported their favourites anyway, the bonds between man and furry racing robot developed over years on the festival scene.
Once the race was over, and the winner declared, the show’s first musical element, Slim Pickings, took the stage. A real band woven into the narrative as a pub group, this three-piece delivered a blast of folk reggae fusion par excellence, setting the tone for the rest of the music in the show. Like the cast, the music came from Adam’s extensive festival contacts, and as musicians are more plentiful in the festival scene, his brought an infectious enthusiasm and authenticity to their roles. Performing live in the theatre, each delivered a performance worthy of a headline slot.
Scene setting finalised, once Slim Pickings had finished their song Adam’s narration carried us on to his early successes: more pub gigs, getting an agent, and even passing through RAF Security with his suitcase full of Hamsters handcuffed to his wrist. However, before long, he encountered his first obstacle — his biggest challenge yet—big money. An offer came in from two shadowy figures known as the Money Men – they would give him an astonishing amount of money – in return, he’d do shows throughout their enormous chain of pubs for the next decade, and give them a 50% stake in the hamsters.
As Adam worried about this decision, he found his eyesight deteriorating, and asking his sister for advice, she agreed to take him to the hospital. Unfortunately for our favourite hamster man, she hadn’t been keeping up with his life, and thought that him considering rejecting the deal was a sign of insanity – leading to her getting him sectioned!
The following scene was a caper reminiscent of Chaplin himself! Adam ran from his sister and his guards, his doctors and his doctors, and a tiny police car with a wagon on the back where he was placed when he was subdued. Carried off to a hospital bed, all the way insisting he needed an eye test and that the staff were not to admit the money men, he was prescribed a course of antipsychotics, and left in his bed.
While the scene, mocking the mental health process, could easily have been tasteless, much of it rang painfully true. The NHS’s mental health services can be both empowering and belittling, calm yet terrifying—a contradiction that this sequence captured perfectly. The words the doctors spoke were eerily familiar to anyone who has navigated the system, their dismissive attitude toward the patient’s real struggles echoing common frustrations.
Despite its absurdity, the sequence never felt like it was mocking patients, or even really professionals. Instead, it balanced humour and critique with precision, allowing the audience to laugh while also confronting the uncomfortable realities of mental health care. That Adam could take what must have been one of the darkest chapters of his life and transform it into something so engaging is a testament to his resilience and brilliance.
The themes of the piece were underlined by Ali Morningstar performing Amy Winehouse’s Crazy. While normally covers of Amy fall flat, Ali absolutely did not and instead did Amy incredible justice. Sitting on the elevated platform overlooking the stage, singing her heart out with passion so raw you could close your eyes and find yourself trapped in the recesses of her soul, Ali’s talent made what could have been a slightly melodramatic musical choice work. As she finished, to raucous applause, the lights dropped down low, and the theatre was filled with a quiet murmuring.
Suddenly something moved in the shadows – we could see the object’s motion, but couldn’t quite make out what it was. This shape, sneaking about in the shadows, caught the audience’s attention, tickling our curiosity as we wondered “what is that? aloud, pantomime style”.
Slowly, a thin beam of light came down, revealing a remote controlled hamster on a hat, moving quietly around the bed. This was the beginning of the second of the play’s big set pieces – a dream sequence afflicted our hero: a series of visions, his sister, the police, increasingly large hamsters, culminating in a giant monster hamster constructed out of a segway swinging by and picking him up. Suddenly our erstwhile hero was riding the fur clad wicker framed vehicle, involved in another chase with hamsters, nurses, his sister, the money men and the police, racing after the giant monster hamster. I think there is some symbolism here – consciously or not, our playwright is depicting how he figured he could use Hamster racing to get away from the things making his life worse.
The first thing to happen to Adam after he woke up was something he wanted less than most anything in the world: an ambush by the Money Men, the very people he told the doctors to not admit. At that point, sitting on his bed in the hospital, Adam made the decision that had been plaguing him throughout the first half of the play – he decided he’d stay independent.
After this important decision, another piece of music followed, this time an original specifically written for the play by East Anglian festival scene legend Tangles. With lyrics referencing the typical spiel spouted at an Electric Hamster Race, Tangles song, The Snake and the Hawk, was named after the hamsters main predators and greatest fears – those two aforementioned causes of the prohibitions on hissing and shadows on the race track. Taking inspiration from classic narrative blues, the ballad told a story of star Hamster Nippy Norman’s Mum, transformed into a character of noir literature.
Elevating Tangle’s piece even further were her costume choices – an intricate white lace ball gown contrasted with her typically crusty dreadlocks, creating this interesting visual of hippie high formality. Melding with the absurdity of her lyrical content, this created an effect which sent the crowd wild – already popular in these parts, Tangles herself later admitted that the crowd’s cheers were the most genuinely heartfelt audience reaction she’d ever encountered.
The stage was now set for the second portion of the play, depicting the Hamsters’ rise. Things started with Adam strolling onto stage, openly discussing what happened after his hospital stay – he’d behaved, got out, and finally, for a reasonable price, got his eye test… at Specsavers. Before long, he found himself somewhere that would change his life forever – a free festival at The Herb Farm, famous for its psytrance parties – and the way he depicted it was beautiful, a demonstration of his love for the things that matter most in the world to him.
First, he found himself sat down next to a woman – a tree nymph who’s glowing golden locks complemented her psychedelic woodland garb beautifully under the Hippodromes Lights. Those in the know knew what was going on immediately: this was Emma, Adams wife, playing herself when on the day they met many years ago. The scene depicting them falling for each other could have felt cheesy, but instead, its pure honesty shone through, and it was incredibly heartwarming – tears came to my eyes as I watched.
This was followed by Adams second love: to the sound of Penguin Cafe Orchestra’s Music For a Found Harmonium, his whole hamster crew paraded out, lights, carrying sculptures flowing and glowing gloriously above their heads. This was clearly a show of how much love Adam felt for his crew, and for the festival scene in general. It was at this moment I, as a mere audience member, felt an enormous sense of gratitude and a pride that I could be here: that I knew enough to find this wonderful, unique performance, and a joy at seeing this wonderful community playing themselves on that stage.
As the parade left the Hippodromes floor, they made way for the Drillaz Circus crew – aerial displays, acrobating, hoops, diablo – they brought talent in spades, wonderfully representing the physical artistry of the independent festival scene – though their lack of costumes slightly broke the illusion, their sheer skill kept the audience enthralled.
One festival has a particular place in any Hamsterhead’s heart, though! Suffolk and Norfolk’s secret gathering of all the coolest weirdos, artists, and fun lovers, a queen among small festivals – Maui Waui! Marching on leading a trouble of guitarists and hoopers, Adams crowd made their way to the hamster table. Excitement was in the air and up on the elevated plinth Maui regulars Aartwork struck up their unique psychedelic dance rhythms as the cast mimed out a Maui hamster race.
As the music ended, day shifted into night, and the cast showed the audience the other, secret, side of hamster racing – the Secret Hamster Races – which must be held in silence so they can continue after hours. Lacking his usual semi professional shushers in their converted library bus, Adams cast were careful not to sound like snakes in their shushing, but not fastidiously quiet enough to avoid attracting security.
Threats to shut the whole thing down were made – and it seemed things would go that way, until Mr Maui Waui himself walked onto stage. Playing himself, Maui founder Silas Rayner, wearing a jacket with the festival’s famous octopus on its shoulder, was initially unconvinced, but after a little persuading from Adam, gladly took up the role of hero and announced in a booming voice, there would be “One More Hamster Race Tonight!”
The show then burst into its final musical interlude. The wonderful Kat Oula, sitting up on the band plinth played a us a rendition of Outkasts Heyaa – with performers moving and fire blasting up all around. As Adam returned to stage on his motorised giant Hamster, the show lurched towards its conclusion – but not before giving us one last treat.
As the final curtain call approached, there was still one lingering question—what about the gerbil? From the outset, we had been promised “a little bit of gerbil,” and despite much concern that one would not be available, Adam had found the man he was looking for – a seasoned gerbil-squeezing expert, a title that raised more questions than answers. Now while there were many fears that this sport could perhaps be cruel, we were reassured that it was the opposite – an artistic sport like dressage, the judges scored based on the bond between handler and rodent.
Once the Gerbil Squeezing was completed, to universal acclaim, the play wound itself towards its end, with the cast parading themselves back onto stage, and Adam mounting his electric hamster again to deliver his final speech. He left us with a note to remember what was important – trees, nature, found family and love.
Following the play, cast member and circus performer extraordinaire Red Roots led the audience down the seafront to the Empire to party late into the night – the musicians played another set, DJs spun records, and old friends reunited, past tensions melting away in the joy of the moment – it was the best party since Maui 2024!
Much of the good in the world is made by people like Amster Adam. People with a mad creative vision, and the friends and willpower to pull it off. By putting on this show, and the events leading up to it, Adam has, beyond creating incredible art, kept alive a community that normally fragments over winter, individuals hiding, working and hibernating. Putting on this show, he accomplished what many thought was impossible.
Thank you Adam, for all that you do. The world would be a much worse place without your influence.
If you want to see the Hamsters in action the next race will be taking place at the Uncanny Valley! Get your donations in now and secure your place on the guestlist for an incredible little festival in Suffolk raising money for St Elizabeths Hospice.
Add as a preferred source