Circus Sunrise

BY Michael Quin

When kids fantasise of running off and joining the circus, what do circus folk dream of? Apparently more of the same.

“I’d probably run in a circle and come strait back to my circus here,” says a wide-eyed Rosita Meatchem, one of nine performers in Circus Sunrise.

Today, gathered in their Big Top tent to talk about their Melbourne season, they can’t help finishing each other’s sentences: every clown, trapeze-artist and knife-thrower in the show is a member of the company’s two families.

The Meatchem and Brophy families run every aspect of the show, from performance to sound and lights, to putting up the tent. Being a circus family brings a personal touch, which Rosita says comes through in the performances.

“By the time the show’s finished, you feel like you know each one of us. Each person here has their own ideas for what they want to do and everyone makes their own costumes with their own personality,” she says.

Harmony Meatchem’s chosen a cat woman costume while younger brother Antony sports an oversized clown jacket and shiny red nose. The rest of the family has the cowboy hats, frills, fishnets and throwing knives covered.

Gary Brophy proudly says they “do absolutely useless things perfectly” and have done so for a very long time.

The parents, born into circus life, trace their family history as circus and street performers back to 1648, making their children 15th generation in the trade.

Now after a decade travelling the world, which young Bonita Brophy says is her favourite part, the Circus Sunrise tradition continues here in its first Melbourne season.

Gary promises “real fair dinkum entertainment” and likes to remind people that a five-second trick can take three or four years to learn. He also likes to mention his stock whips, which he threatens to bring out.

David says the show is for young and old alike, and looks forward to plenty of laughs and gasps from the Melbourne crowd. As a performer, he says, it’s all about the audience.

“When you do a show and everyone there’s smiling and buzzing, you know you’ve really done a good job that night, when everybody’s done their thing and everybody’s smiling, it’s a real high,” he says.

Show now on at Waterfront city, Docklands, under the Ferris wheel.