It’s a circus life for me
MAGALIESIG- Brian Boswell's circus has been captivating audiences for decades with their amazing acrobatic feats, funny clowns and talented jugglers but the people behind the acts are just as intriguing.
Georgina Boswell is one of the owners of the circus and she comes from an eighth generation circus family. She explained that although people come and go, at any given time there are 60 people who live and work at the circus. “That’s why we have to travel and perform for 12 months of the year. If we don’t perform we don’t have an income,” she said.
Many of the performers in Brian Boswell Circus, like Boswell herself have grown up in the circus environment. Some have trained to be circus performers from a young age like acrobatic couple, Ankhsetseg Tsogtsaukhan and Javkhan Boldbayar, who both came to Brian Boswell Circus from a circus school in Mongolia. Yet some, like Sarah Gordon, joined the circus for love. Gordon met clown and master juggler, Ben Coles while the circus was in Durban at the end of 2013. Despite not having a circus background she followed her heart and joined the circus in Johannesburg a few weeks later.
Boswell describes the circus as a close-knit community which works and lives together.
“No matter where we go, we always park our caravans in exactly the same way, so we always have the same neighbours. In a way a travelling circus is like a townhouse complex on wheels,” she said.
Boswell added that working at a circus requires quick-thinking and versatility because all the workers have multiple roles. “I’m the ring master, I do admin, drive a heavy duty vehicle and even make candy floss during the interval, “ she said.
