Duffy’s Irish Circus

“What do you know about an Irish Circus?” As a writer and a poet, I was always interested in the link between performance and one’s native culture. Ireland has produced such a rich history of exceptional artists that it was interesting to me what kinds of bridges there were between past traveling artisans, and the lifestyle of performance artists today. The circus is such a mystical lifestyle that it was interesting to be able to find a group of circus people who were living like they had for hundreds of years. In the summer of 1998, I followed an Irish circus passed down from father to son, which has performed every year since 1775, through famines, wars, and of course, plenty of rain. Run by a 7th generation Duffy, David Duffy (who refers to his young 3 year-old son as ‘the eighth generation’), Duffy’s Irish Circus is a one-ring circus that does everything the old fashioned way. Making its way into every tiny village and foggy bog, this circus is a remarkable relic of what show-biz used to be. Doing everything themselves (including setting up and taking down the ‘big top’) the characters are entertainers who have made a life out of traveling, hardships, and dreams.