Circus Oz is to close after 44 years. They irrevocably changed Australian circus, and brought it to the world

By Jo Caust, Associate Professor and Principal Fellow (Hon), School of Culture and Communication, The University of Melbourne

In 1980, I was in London and working at the Roundhouse performing arts centre.

Thelma Holt, the legendary director of the Roundhouse, told me she had booked an Australian circus to perform. She asked me had I heard of them. I said no. I had been in England for a few years, so I was out of touch with what was happening in Australia. I knew though, of some former peers at Flinders, who had formed something called the…

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