Studio production- research into the history of circus
Research into the history of the circus
(1) Victorian circus
In the middle of the 19th century there were hundred of circuses that were operating in Britain.
Trick riding (doing stunts on a horse) were still dominating as main attractions however other acts quickly developed too.
**There were also aquatic circuses where the circus ring was flooded with water**
Due to the huge popularity the circus had theatres also presented circus acts such as jugglers and aerial acts in music halls. Trapeze wires got strung up from the roof and trapeze and high-wire artists performed above the crowds sitting in the stalls.
A factor that made circus so popular was that the entertainers were brought to their audience, people could just go to their local theatre and see their favourite acts.
The Barnum and Bailey's circus in London ran from 1871 to 2017 and had at least ten displays during their performances these would include; aquatic acts, aerialists, elephants and an equestrian act that had 70 horses performing in the ring at once.
A military band would play before the performance, there would be races and ballets, a collection of wild animals and re-enactments of a battle that involved the Spanish Fleet at Santiago.
Altogether this circus had over 1,200 people and 380 horses employed. The most memorable part of the show would be when Barnum himself appeared, he'd be driven into the ring in a carriage which was escorted by uniformed men.
Tennting
Picture from www.vam.ac.uk
Small troupes who performances were most likely to be the ones who used canvas construction for their performances. Some would have these small tents while others performed in the open air with a ring of rope.
Audiences would stand and watch from behind a wooden barrier, and performances were repeated throughout the day whenever there was an audience.
Touring circus became known as 'tenting'.
A lot of fairground circuses would have canvas sides and possibly roofs, they were rectangles with rings built inside. The tents that get associated with the circus nowadays was originally used by American circuses in the 1820's, and got brought to the UK by Richard Sands' American Circus in Liverpool 1842. These tents were incredibly vulnerable to the weather, unmelted snow could rip the canvas and high winds could take it up out of the ground.
Touring circuses
Touring circuses were very small and included; a few acrobats, a clown, a tightrope walker and horses. A show would get preformed many times between noon and midnight and every performer had a different role to play in it. (2)
Picture from http://www.victorian-era.org/
George Speaight defines the history of circus as "the story of that entertainment of human bodily skills and trained animals that is presented in a ring of approximately 13 metres in diameter with an audience grouped all around it." The circus entertainment was developed in England and was developed around horse acts. The circus acts were made up of menageries (groups of zoo animals), acrobats and trick animals, however it was the addition of the circular tent that actually became known as a circus. This term was coined by Philip Astley's contemporary and rival Charles Dibdin, who opened The Royal Circus in London in 1772. Philip Astley (the founder of the modern circus, staged a show in London in 1768 that featured trick horseback riding and live music, it got presented in a circle tent. In the middle of the Victorian era travelling circuses were big commercial concerns ranging from small tenting affairs to huge enterprises in permanent buildings or amphitheatres. In the first half of the 19th cent, circuses were largely performed in wooden buildings rather than in tents and proprietors (the owner of the business) made purpose-built buildings known as hippodromes, circuses and amphitheatres in cities all over the UK. The initial idea of using a canvas tent for outdoor performances was brought over from the USA in the 1840's, and by the 1850's circuses in America and the UK already had most of the iconography that is already associated with them in the modern day. During the middle of the 19th cent European and American circus began to diverge in style and structure. British and European circuses were based on the Astley principle of a single ring. They were much bigger affairs in the US.
Picture from www.dailymail.co.uk
As the evolution of the circus continued it added more and more acts and expanded it's variety. These would include; aerial performances, equestrian riding, ground acts and clowns. The combinations of wild animals in the menagerie and tricks with routines led to the increase in popularity of animal circuses. These would incorporate; Lion-taming, Elephant acts and Horsemanship. They are still used in some circuses today. ((The bill to ban it in the UK today is still yet to be passed)). The circus today includes dance routines and new media common today like light shows, they are performed with or without wild animals and can include a narrative structure to their performances. Modern circus isn't confined to a thirteen-meter diameter ring with an audience grounded around it.
Over all this research has allowed me to gain an understanding about the importance the circus had on people's everyday lives, it provided escapism for poorer families.
It's also helped me have an understanding about the importance of the big top itself, the shape and general design needs to be able to allow performances to go as smoothly as possible as well as allowing cameras to film.
It's given me ideas for the acts that we could include as well, some acts (like clowns) are staple circus acts and the iconography links the two very well. Without these acts the show will not feel as authentic as possible.
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