Circus Joseph Ashton has gone burlesque for their Infamous show which debuts at Kully Bay Park in Warrawong on Friday night – and runs until March 11.

Performances are licensed, therefore are adults only, and include acrobats, aerialists, contortionists, clowns and stuntmen in sexy costumes performing in a cabaret-style setting.

“Obviously we are very good at doing family shows, that’s what we were born into. You also must realise you can’t do the basis of this sort of show without that experience,” Ashton said. “We just saw an opening in the market for it.”

The sixth-generation circus artist and show director said there were so many circus shows targeted to families in Australia but cabaret-style shows were “skyrocketing” in popularity thanks to venues like the Wollongong Spiegeltent.

The circus is one of three independent groups 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.

If you’re wanting a show a little more child-friendly, Weber’s Circus have set up their tent at Riverside Drive in Kiama Downs until February 18. Their Wild West show includes the wheel of death, clowns, dogs performing tricks, Russian swing and aerial acts.