* Adam St James: “With the circus, it’s a bit of an escape. Their worries and their hassles are forgotten and they just go into a bit of a fantasy world. You get carried away on a magical journey into the world of circus.”

By Sid Astbury

 

Family runs deep at Stardust Circus. Three-year-old Braxton Smith-West, one of 21 family members in the 30-strong Stardust troupe, wants to be a lion tamer like his dad. The cubs that today’s patrons are queuing to cuddle, the 21st generation of lions born in the circus, will likely take their turn in the ring with Braxton when they grow up.

“Everyone’s in it and doing it and that’s what makes it work,” 74-year-old owner Lindsay Lennon said of the extended family, its intermingled blood lines and its jack-of-all-trades mentality.

“Years ago there’d be a separate tent crew, a seating crew, an animal crew. Now, it’s the one team.”

The team has been round Australia 26 times since 1970. It can get the 1,000-seat Big Top down and back up again in another town within three days. The clown with the big shoes and the water pistol also teaches tricks, drives a crane and makes popcorn. The acrobat in the fishnet stockings selling tickets also does her own balancing act and maintains the website.

Modern, just-in-time management methods have been forced on traditional circuses by tough competition from capital-intensive extravaganzas like Cirque du Soleil, a 30-year-old intercontinental behemoth with annual ticket sales of $450mn.

 “They’re more theatre than circus. They don’t have animals. They cater to a more adult audience,” said Stardust ringmaster Adam St James. “We’re very much the full traditional-style show — not like these new, modern, fandangle-type circuses.”

St James, with Stardust for 16 years, said non-traditional circuses had forced the old-timers to improve their act.  “The days of sitting on wooden planks have gone. People don’t want that anymore,” he said.

“When you’ve had the likes of Cirque du Soleil coming along, you’ve had all-chair seating and an air-conditioned Big Top. You’ve got to keep up with that.”

The challenge from what is sometimes called contemporary circus has also prompted co-operation among the traditionalists, with owners like Lennon making sure they do not end up in the same town at the same time. They have also encouraged those who are not family to join the circus.

Frank Taylor, who with twin brother Richard runs the Sydney Trapeze School, said proprietors like Lennon no longer try and keep it in the family. “You meet a lot of circus family people these days who go out and do other things, so they’ve had to go out and look elsewhere for talent.”

Taylor, who had his professional start with resort company Club Med, said the big difference was that there were now a lot more openings for acts. There is work on cruise ships, at corporate events, at Disneyland and other theme parks or simply as buskers on the streets.

Maria Rizzo, marketing manager at Melbourne’s National Institute of Circus Arts (NICA), the only school of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, said very few children from circus families were taking the three-year course.

 “But we’re finding the rise of contemporary circus like Cirque du Soleil has really grown the demand for performers,” she said.

St James, who is not from a circus family, said the traditional and contemporary circus were worlds apart.  “A lot of the contemporary people don’t like traditional circus, which is sad because we started the whole thing off,” he said. “All our training is here. None of our kids has been to NICA.”

Three traditional travelling circuses closed in the 1990s. There are no performing elephants anywhere any more. Some councils ban circuses with any animals at all.

Regulations get tougher and tougher for those described as the nation’s last nomadic tribe. However, Lennon believes that as long as there are children, there will be circuses.

In the 1950s he and his father were two out of just six in his troupe and they travelled in just a couple of trucks. Now, the Stardust convoy stretches for a kilometre and they have two full-time teachers for the troupe’s children.

 “There’s still a future in circus,” he said. “What about the kids? They took their kids to Cirque du Soleil and the kids fell asleep. Lovely music. Lovely lighting. But no animals. A lot of dance productions in silly suits with a few circus acts thrown in. What did they do? They took their kids to Stardust just down the road.” — DPA