Holden on to the past in fine style

THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH Dream Dealers and Wander Productions Theatre Royal, Hobart June 21

AUSTRALIAN circus has a long and glorious past, and remains a dynamic, growing art form.

Today, of course, it is troupes such as Circus Oz that best exemplify the direction Australian circus has taken: larrikin, political, iconoclastic, sexy. (Incidentally, you can see Circus Oz at the Theatre Royal next week.)

Circus has come a long way from the Big Tops of yesteryear, the hardworking family affairs that dazzled and delighted audiences with feats of derring-do mingled with slapstick comedy and a strong scent of the exotic.

In 1892, one-legged trapeze artist Adolphus Holden founded Holden Brothers Travelling Circus and travelled through the bush with his family of 12 on horsedrawn wagons, showing in every village and hamlet.

Razzle-dazzle pulses through the veins of Adolphus’s descendants, and in The Greatest Show on Earth veteran Australian pop artist Mark Holden combines family history with a look-back over his own life and career. Holden was a heart-throb in the heyday of Countdown.

In addition to his career as a pop singer, Holden has also been a producer, a music-theatre performer, a writer, a barrister and, at the height of his fame, a true star.

Here, he does not shirk from telling his story warts and all. He fends off potential corniness and self-indulgence through honesty and humility.

It’s a sentimental journey guided by a charming performer with heart and humour, and, more than that, it redeems, in an intimate and deeply felt way, a significant slice of Australian theatrical and social history.