Maybe it’s the odour, more than anything else, that identifies the experience of the circus.
The strangely distinctive scent is an aromatic assault on the senses, plunging down your throat until you can almost taste it.
A fusion of diesel oil and sweat, sawdust and burnt caramel with just a hint of candyfloss and fried onions.
One whiff is enough to transport you back to childhood, watching in awe as a candy-striped tent began to rise from the ramshackle caravan village which had just rolled into town.
It’s a complex odour, and impossible to pinpoint to one circus visit.
Instead it blends one circus with another, mixing circuses from films and novels with the romantic nostalgia of exotic travelling shows from hundreds of years ago.
The daring young men on the flying trapeze, the sad-faced clowns, the high-wire walkers, the tamers of wild beasts, even the besequined girls on horses: they all seem to have been around forever.
But it’s time to forget any twee notions you had of the circus.
When it comes to modern performances, Cirque du Soleil is the international juggernaut.
After modest beginnings in Montreal some 35 years ago, the company now employs more than 1,300 performers in multiple worldwide touring shows.
Cirque du Soleil specialises in sleek, edgy spectacles with hundreds of specialised performers and impossibly grand sets.
There’s no traditional tent either. Instead they set up shop in huge arenas, filling thousands of seats night after night as audiences come to marvel at the show.
In fact, the production was due to stop off in Aberdeen at the end of March in what should have been Cirque du Soleil’s first foray into the wilderness above Scotland’s central belt.
Unfortunately a global pandemic put paid to that, much to the disappointment of 24-year-old Rory Boyd, the show’s head of automation.
“A show at P&J Live is probably the closest I’ll ever get to a home gig,” he laughed.
“I’m from Nethy Bridge in the Highlands originally.”
As much as he loves his hometown, Rory is the first to admit it’s not exactly an international entertainment hotspot.
Which makes it all the more remarkable that he managed to do what every kid dreams of – running away to join the circus.
“It was never planned that way,” Rory said.
“When I was a kid I really wanted to pursue theatre and was part of various local groups.
“I also played the trumpet and was used to being in bands and being on stage through that.
“But as I got older I gradually realised I preferred the backstage element and decided to study production at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow.
“In the last year of university we were encouraged to get a placement and I decided to chance my luck with Cirque.
“I’d seen a production of theirs a couple of years previously and was really impressed.
“They offered me an internship on what was the Varekai show at the time and I toured Russia for six weeks which was just incredible.
“I was totally hooked and did a few different temporary jobs until they offered me a permanent position.”
As head of automation, Rory is in charge of all the show’s mechanical moving parts, including winches, spinning machinery and moving props.
From what he describes, it sounds not unlike being an air traffic controller, except that he is moving acrobats and tightrope walkers rather than jumbo jets.
“We fly performers over the stage at some speed,” he said, “it’s around 10 feet per second.
“I love it because it really looks like magic to the audience and contributes to the whole theatrical feeling of the show.”
Rory’s current show, Cirque du Soleil: Crystal is even more death-defying than the usual offering, combining acrobatics with ice in a kind of wild Disney-on-Ice-meets-the-circus hybrid.
It follows a loose storyline of a girl who falls through the ice of a frozen lake and into a fantastical underworld.
With incredible glittering costumes, jaw-dropping stunts, huge props, interactive projections and pumping music, this is like no circus you will have seen before.
It’s proven popular too, touring the world since it began in 2017.
Though Rory joined the crew just six months ago, throughout his career with Cirque du Soleil he has travelled extensively with a variety of productions.
“I counted it up and I’ve been to 27 countries in the last three years,” he said.
“Touring like this isn’t for everyone – I’ve not spent more than three weeks in one place for as long as I can remember – but I love it.
“The show is incredible and the performers and crew are all fantastic to work with.
“I still get a buzz out of every performance.”
So while the modern circus may be rather different from the seemingly quaint clowns and trick horseback riders of yore, it seems what hasn’t changed is our enduring desire to be a part of it.
Now, where did I put my juggling balls…
