The Cambridge Companion to the Circus has now been published! Edited by Gillian Arrighi and Jim Davis, the volume has sixteen essays tracing the evolution of the circus, including my opening salvo on “The Origins and Growth of the Modern Circus”:
The circus was an expansive cultural form that emerged in late eighteenth-century London by combining several existing lines of popular entertainment, most notably equestrian trick riding, into a multi-act performance that took place in a circular arena. Ongoing social and economic changes overtaking the British Isles created a new market for popular leisure activities that entrepreneurial equestrians such as Philip Astley and Charles Hughes were quick to capitalise upon. While many of the discrete acts that figured in the early circus have long and varied histories, the focus of this chapter will be on the more immediate origins of the circus at Astley’s Amphitheatre, which provided the essential model that was refined and expanded as the circus grew into a global form of entertainment. Limited only by the need for the performance to take place within a demarcated ring, the flexibility of the circus allowed it to incorporate both traditional and new acts in an innovative fashion that ensured its enduring appeal. The essence of its success was the efficiency with which the circus delivered enjoyable entertainment to a broad audience, but there were a variety of cultural and socio-economic dynamics that shaped its development. This chapter looks at the origins of the circus in Astley’s comparatively modest displays in the late 1760s and traces its growth into what by the 1850s was a global cultural phenomenon.