Travels with a Circus

An account of Katie Hickman's extraordinary year spent amidst the faded glamour of a Mexican travelling circus. Katie Hickman went to Mexico looking for magic. She found it in the circus - big top, clowns, elephant and all - where cheap, torn materials are transformed for a night into glittering illusion. Gradually adjusting to the harsh ways of the circus's nomadic lifestyle she soon became absorbed into this hypnotic new world. At first, as a foreigner, she was on the outskirts, but she soon became "La Gringa Estrella", a performer in her own right and adopted sister to the Bell's family. In this work, Katie Hickman describes her epic year-long journey through this extraordinary and bizarrely beautiful country. Riding elephants and playing clowns as part of the show, she uses the lessons of the circus as a focus to look deep into the complex psyche of modern Mexixo, and into the very nature of "magic" itself.