Australian circuses are in high demand. Our most innovative cultural exports are contemporary circus and circus-infused theatre.
Touring companies from around the world, such as Circa Strange Fruit Stalker and Legs on the Wall, have developed a unique Australian blend of physical theatre and visual language. Australians recognize this as an important strength in their cultural market.
In recent years, “circus,” a term used in the arts industry, has finally been recognized as a distinct genre within our major arts festivals.
Physical risk-taking, bold aesthetics, and hot-topic political or social concerns characterize Australia’s culture. Contemporary circuses carry on this tradition.
Circus as a political commentary
Think of Legs on the Wall, a show in Home (2000) that featured aerial performers climbing the 100-meter AMP tower at Circular Quay. The show was woven with themes such as migration, rootlessness, and diaspora. As the aerial artists descended the tower’s 100-metre AMP skyscraper, they “walked” in space eerily, invoking the risky uncertainties faced by those who leave their home country in search of a better life in another.
We might also consider Stalker’s Innocenta (2003). Set in an arid, post-bushfire landscape, the piece combines skill sets from contemporary circus and dance. The characters “struggle” to survive the buried past of generations that feared peace would never come in this land.
Circus Oz is Australia’s pioneering circus. It was born out of a politically driven community arts movement that began in the late 1970s. The shows were dominated by a left-wing political message.
Circus Oz has been in operation for 37 years and is now well-loved. It also receives a lot of funding. While the political content of the shows has been significantly toned down since the 1970s and 80s, it continues to be a part of the productions’ comic, high-energy, and family-friendly productions.
FitzGerald Brothers’ Circus
Australians’ fascination with circuses is nothing new. Neither is their interest in social and political issues. The circus was important to Australians during the nineteenth and early twenty-first centuries.
The FitzGerald Brothers’ Circus, which was the largest circus in the world at the time, entertained audiences in Sydney and Melbourne in a tent that could seat 6,000. The seasons of the circus lasted up to six weeks despite the fact that the populations of both cities were under 300,000.
Fitzgerald gained national fame during the Depression Years of the Early 1890s after two highly successful seasons in Melbourne and Sydney (1892).
Their patriotic appeal as an all-Australian show, bursting with Aussie virtues like pluck and camaraderie, was a big part of their popularity. Their popularity helped to cement these virtues into the emerging national identity.
The FitzGeralds constructed a permanent circus in 1901, the Federation year, at the heart of Melbourne, the new capital of Australia (on the current site of the Victorian Arts Centre).
The paradox between performance and propaganda
Throughout their careers, the FitzGeralds developed a wide range of marketing narratives. They promoted nationalist ideas such as Australian performers to Australian audiences, reflecting the complexity of Australian citizenship.
A number of times, such as during the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902), their actions jingoistically defended Australia’s position as Britain’s Imperial partner in the Pacific.
Fitzgerald spent much of their careers cultivating the image of their organization as a pillar for middle-class values. They eventually proposed their success as an analogy for the late colonial tale of progress.
Their performances challenged the normative codes and cultural values.
In their ring, they featured cross-dressed aerialists and jugglers, as well as Aboriginal performers and Japanese Sumo wrestling.
The performers and workers at the site of the circus represented many races, including Aboriginals, English, Germans, Maoris, Japanese, and Malay. The FitzGerald Brothers’ Circus, during the construction of the White Australia Policy, was a truly heterogeneous group of people of different races. It was a fully functioning alternative to the ideology that one nation is one race.
FitzGeralds was one of Australia’s first cultural exports. They were the historical predecessors to Australia’s leading contemporary physical theatre and circus companies.
They embraced cosmopolitanism in the first phase of globalization from 1850-1914. This was the process of creating international networks to transfer culture and ideas.
They introduced Australians and New Zealanders, through these transnational and cross-cultural encounters, to the popular entertainment trends that were emerging in the major centers of the northern hemisphere. The Australian circus was also presented to international audiences.
Politics strengthens the social role of the circus for FitzGeralds and other leading contemporary Australian performance companies.