The return of the circus: What’s going on in NZ’s clown community?

Touring circuses have been a family-night-out staple since Weber Bros began touring New Zealand in the early 1990s. Other traditional big top circus businesses such as Zirka soon followed.

But the family fun has ended suddenly, with no circus companies touring Aotearoa since 2022.

And it's not just the businesses that have disappeared. None of New Zealand's circus tertiary education qualifications are still being taught, after Whitireia quietly closed their circus diploma in 2019.

The first week of August marks International Clown Week, a celebration of the clowning artform, a diverse culture that ranges from children's party entertainers to French-style performance arts and late-night cabaret.

But with no circus shows currently touring, and no new performers being traditionally trained, what happens to New Zealand's clowns?

Life after the circus

Damian Gordon dedicated the past 30 years of his life to the circus.

Starting as a juggler busking for change, Gordon quickly developed his clown persona, Pod.

"Lovable rogue is probably the easiest way to sum him up.

"I see it as amplifying a part of you, a personality trait you've got and just blow that out at all proportions," Gordon said.

When Gordon and his aerialist partner Irene were offered the chance to buy a big top and caravans, the two took the leap, creating Circus Aotearoa.

"I was a drifting, travelling soul and I thought, 'Oh, I need to make some money while I'm doing this,'" he said.

In 2020, Circus Aotearoa was abruptly forced to stop touring due to COVID-19 lockdowns.

Gordon was in Kaitaia when the first lockdown hit, leaving him, and his troupe of travelling performers, with nowhere to go.

"We had nine of us circus people living in this house for four weeks on lockdown. Irene was in Austria, and it was just nuts. It was good and nuts at the same time."

With the loss of profit from rocky seasons in 2020 and 2021, followed by an entire year of no touring in 2022, the 13-year-old business was never able to fully recover.

"I was just like, 'Oh, I'm not going anywhere for a while.'

"We did 26 weeks a year in 22 towns. So that's a lot of entertainment not happening."

New generation of clowns

Booth The Clown was one of the final circus students at Whitireia, and the only clown in their class.

"I feel like that was my bad. They saw me and they were like, that's enough."

Booth's clowning speciality is stage shows, usually as a part of a comedy lineup or cabaret, with multiple successful Fringe shows under their belt.

Booth is currently "one-half of Wellington's Best Comedian", splitting the Capital's top comedy prize with Lesa MacLeod-Whiting in 2023.

"My favourite well to go into is the well of sexuality and anatomy.

"As someone who is perceived often as female, I really love subverting the trope or the idea that I'm inherently sexy or inherently a sex object."

Booth says lockdown was one of the reasons they had to "shift gears" from focusing on clowning to focusing on comedy.

"I found more success in [comedy] because there's more opportunities.

"There's still a lot of European, prestigious trainers, who think definitively that having a vagina makes you incapable of clowning."

However, Booth feels optimistic about the future for clowns, citing many contemporaries pushing the boundaries of the artform in their own unique way.

"It wasn't too long-ago people were really, really afraid of clowns, and I feel like it's, that's really changed.

"We're seeing clown influence in fashion these days. Which is, yeah, awesome. Like, it seems like it's cool now."

So, what's next?

The future of the circus isn't as bleak as you would initially think.

Speaking to RNZ, Weber Bros co-owner Natalie Weber revealed circuses will once again tour Aotearoa from next year.

"Weber Brothers Circus is definitely a household name in New Zealand, and we are so pleased to be coming back.

"Dates will be posted probably in the next few months on our website."

But the return of international players doesn't mean the industry is out of the woods. Though Weber says it's imperative people return to the big top.

"It's important to support the community. The local entertainment industry, including circuses.

"I don't think recognition is given to the circus art form and the traditional families who are five, six, seven, eight generations in this industry."

Pod the Clown has now retired, with Gordon not putting on the makeup in more than two years.

He and Irene now live deep in the Raglan bush, raising pigs and goats, with their juggling pins and rusting caravans the only reminder of their 2000-plus shows together.

Gordon drives a truck part-time and says he's enjoying every minute.

"First time I've had a job for 35 years. So, it's got its ups and downs. There's a lot of 'Hey, not my monkeys, not my circus.'"

"It's life, you know, you might as well enjoy it."