Résumé :
A fundamental objective of an entity is to secure ‘legitimacy’. Upon a foundation of legitimacy, reputation can be developed, broadcast, maintained, enhanced and defended to ensure survival and success. Circus emerged as a viable form of entertainment in London on the eve of the Industrial Revolution. Ever since, circus entrepreneurs have faced the challenge of securing ‘legitimacy’ in the face of variable, inconsistent and often adversarial, social, economic, geographic, legal and other settings. Although lightened of the fundamental task of ‘inventing’ circus, Australia’s circus entrepreneurs were required to adapt the genre to its new antipodean setting, itself an evolving frontier, in order to establish and sustain their ‘legitimacy’. Before Australia’s regional towns could afford, or even justify, the construction of entertainment venues such as theatres, cinemas, amusement parlours and well before entertainment could be broadcast electronically, the peripatetic circus offered an economic solution to the delivery and distribution of entertainment. This chapter therefore argues that circus is not only a genre but a medium for experiment and innovation, a ‘laboratory’ by which legitimacy can be achieved and attained. With reference to the history of circus in Australia, the chapter explains how circus entrepreneurs, through technology, ‘imagineered’ their legitimacy.

Localisation : Bibliothèque