Flying High: Loritz Circus comes to Mandurah

Peeking over fences and from behind trees, they’re not simple bystanders: the big, inflatable clowns are marking the appearance of The Great Loritz Circus in Mandurah.

“We like to let people know we’re coming,” Lortiz Circus organiser Georgie Fogarty said.

“It’s the excitement that drives us: people realising, ‘Oh, the circus is in town,’ and it being a big event – that’s what we strive for.”

Fourth-generation circus performer Mario España has performed in Mexico and the USA, and brings a wealth of experience in high-flying acrobatics to Loritz Circus.

“My dad did flying trapeze for more than twenty years, before doing the wheel of death,” España says.

“Circus is really big in Mexico. My father is Mexican and my mother is Brazilian, and I spent my childhood travelling around.

“[My father] trained my brother for several years and when I was 13, he started teaching me.

“Anything to do with the wheel, the flying trapeze and anything with motorcycles; that’s what I do.”

España is a dyed-in-the-wool performer.

Having been involved with the circus for most of his life, his passion is evident, but it’s more to him than just a family business.

“Travelling, and seeing the new places wherever the circus goes is what I love,” he says.

“It’s really about enjoying where you are at the time, its exciting. I love to travel and see the world, and meet new people. It’s the adrenaline. Your heart starts beating real quick and your hands start sweating. You just want to get out there and do whatever you can.”

España’s starring roles in Loritz Circus comes in the form of several appropriately titled apparatus: the Wheel of Death, a giant, swinging pendulum with a weight on one end and a person-sized cage on the other, and the Cage of Death, a huge, bowl-shaped cage in which performers drive motorcycles around each other.

Even a seasoned professional like España admits that fear does present itself before he embarks on these clearly nerve-wracking stunts.

“Before I get on the wheel, every show I feel scared, because you can’t trust the wheel, you know, you can’t control it because it’s always in movement. If you slip, you just keep tripping until you either fall off, or you hang on," he said.

“It’s all really feeling. You have to feel the wheel with your feet and know where your body is all the time when it’s moving. So there are tonnes of things you have to remember, the main thing is that you have to lean forward like you’re walking. That’s safe, not like just standing upright. And you have to feel the speed, like when it’s cold it changes.”

No matter how much fear hits him, though, España says the energy and the audience interaction push him to go out on stage and perform every night.

“I never get tired of it,” he said.

“You know, we really feed off the energy of the crowd, that’s what fuels you. It really depends on what mood the audience is in, it affects us so much.  Every show is different, so I enjoy it every time.”

With the exposure of events like Perth Fringe Festival and circuses like Cirque du Soleil, circus performances have arguably become more contemporary in recent times, with the ditching of animal acts in many circuses and a push to present more unique, ‘modern’ performances.

Yet Fogarty still contends the idea of presenting contemporary performance on a traditional platform is still the key to a successful show.

“There’s something special about the traditional circus that’s just great,” Fogarty says.

“There’s a big draw for modern, contemporary circuses, but being modern and still being traditional in a sense works for us.

“We’re able to travel all around the country, set up, and just put on shows. Last year we travelled from South Australia through the centre of the country and into Darwin before coming down the coast to Perth. That trip was just great, because we put on shows in Kununurra, Alice Springs – rural towns where the kids and families wouldn’t see this kind of thing for most of the year.

“You really see what it’s all about then, because the ability we have to come out there and put on a great show for them is really special.”

It’s a huge amount of work to put into anything.

But the passion and determination felt by España, Fogarty and the entire circus carries them through the hard yards, and what’s basically left for them is the pure enjoyment of bringing such a spectacular show to crowds across the country.

"It’s not really a job, it’s a lifestyle thing,” Fogarty said.

“You know, we spend 11 months of the year out on the road, and it’s just like a big family. You’re always around each other and you rely on each other. We spend so much time together."

“I don’t know how to explain it; It’s my life,” España said.

“It’s not really work because we enjoy it so much. What we do, we do with a passion, and that’s what people come to see.”