One of Australia’s oldest circus groups is returning to the Illawarra but this time with an adults only show.
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The Circus Joseph Ashton is performing their burlesque cabaret show Infamous at Kully Bay Park in Warrawong from February 2 until March 11, according to a development application to Wollongong City Council.
The application states the show will run three to four times a week with a capacity to fill up more than 670 seats per performance. The show is currently playing in Canberra with trapeze artists and acrobats in lingerie-style outfits, contortionists, juggling, a daring wheel of death plus singers and dancers.
The big top has been reconfigured to resemble a Spiegeltent with some of the seats placed ringside with tables and an alcohol bar - one of the reasons for the restricted entry.
"People think it's something new but it's not. Circus has always been a variety performance and this has just taken it to another level,” Ashton told Fairfax Media.
The sixth-generation circus artist and show director said his grandparents (Doug and Phyllis) taught him everything he knows, as he has taught his own children Jordan and Merrick.
“With the popularity of circuses now a lot of kids go to circus school to learn the arts but in this family business you learn from the generations before you,” he said.
Its one of three independent circuses run by descendants of James Henry Ashton who founded the original Ashton Circus in the early 1800s. The other two include Ashton Entertainment run by Jan Ashton-Rodriquez and Lorraine Ashton’s Classic Circus (both daughters of Doug and Phyllis).
Joseph Ashton worked on Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge to train eight acrobats in the feature film as well as being the technical advisor for Nicole Kidman’s trapeze work.
Infamous is a new venture for the circus with years spent finding the right equipment and artists. So far crowds in Perth, Adelaide, Wagga Wagga and Canberra have been lapping it up with most seasons extended.
The Illawarra will be treated to more human contortionists later in 2018 when similar show Limbo takes centre stage inside the Wollongong Spiegeltent in the Arts Precinct in April; Circa present their contemporary circus show Humans at the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre in August; and Circus Oz return with Model Citizens at IPAC in September.
- with Karen Hardy.