ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The major growth area in the Fringe in the last five years is circus. It now has its own listing in the Fringe programme – “Dance & Physical Theatre” has become “Dance, Physical Theatre & Circus” – and a dedicated venue, Underbelly’s Circus Hub, which seems to grow bigger every year.

That means plenty of opportunities to see sequins and spangles, gravity-defying high-wire acts, awesome acrobatics. However, as circus performer and theatre-maker Ellie Dubois points out, as audiences at the circus, we enjoy the wonder without considering what it takes to produce such marvels, that the person currently executing a perfect double somersault is a human being, just like you or me.

“I trained as a circus performer, but when I see circus performers on stage, even to me they are like gods and goddesses, they’re so superhuman in their abilities,” says Dubois, who trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the National Centre for Circus Arts (formerly Circus Space) in London. “I was interested in a way of trying to show circus performers as more human.”

Dubois, whose debut show, Ringside, a show for one audience member and one circus performer, was highly acclaimed when she performed it at Summerhall in 2015, is back this year with her biggest show to date. In No Show, she directs five female circus performers, demonstrating all the skills and discipline one expects from circus, but also lifting the lid on some of the secrets of the big top.

“In circus, the illusion is that the tricks are easy, that it’s effortless, but that’s because we’ve rehearsed those same five tricks and no others for a year,” Dubois says. “When I was at circus school, I saw people training all day every day, constantly striving to be the best, and predominantly failing, because in order to get better you have to do it wrong lots of times. I’m interested in finding a way to show that failure, show the effort and the work that goes into the tricks on stage.

“It has to mean something. I could do 30 back flips for you now and you wouldn’t care, but if I give you a reason to care suddenly it becomes a lot more exciting.”

In No Show, the five performers will tell elements of their own stories, which is highly unusual in the circus world: when did you last hear a circus performer talk?

“That’s been a real journey,” says Dubois. “Getting them to be themselves, and to understand that their stories are interesting has been a long, fascinating journey.” They will also reveal a little inside knowledge