IF YOU have been to Marburg Show you are likely to have seen Australia’s oldest circus family in action.
The Ashtons have built on their brand of entertainment to audiences since 1851, when it was first licensed by James Henry Ashton.
It’s a business with bottom lines underpinned by familial ties, now a seventh generation is at the starting gate.
Matias is not yet two and already he’s under the lights in the big top.
His mum is Chantel Ashton-Rodriguez and his father is Jefferson Amaral, a motorbike stunt rider.
Matias was born on the eve of a big performance in 2023.
Chantel’s weekend duties were called off and her globe riding husband pulled out of his performance.
“He’s 18-months-old now and has been running, never mind walking, for some time now,” Chantel said of the toddler.
“He’s settled well into circus life.”
Life as part of a circus is ever changing and full of adventure and she says that Matias handles it like a pro.
“We have been doing corporate and agricultural shows and went to Adelaide Fringe [Festival],” she said.
“We’ve gone to Cairns and then a five week tour of Outback Queensland, nothing fazes [Matias], he adapts to whatever we are doing and fits right in.”
Travelling with a young child in tow can be stressful but when it’s part of a circus, there’s a village along for the ride.
“At the moment there hasn’t been any surprises. I watched my nephew grow up in the circus, plenty of cousins and friends, too,” she said.
“I was raised in the circus and babies really do just adapt to their environment.”
Chantel has been working in administration while her husband works outside.
“Matias is definitely a daddy’s boy and always wants to be outside. He likes to explore wherever it is we are,” she said.
“Right now, he’s outside feeding ducks.”
With the title of seventh-generation circus person hovering, how do the elders figure out a new member’s role?
“You let them explore all different skills in the circus and see which one they pick up naturally or what they’re drawn towards,” she said.
“He is in the grand finale and he’s been onstage quite a few times.
“My partner and I have clown costumes for our knife throwing comedy routine, my mum made him an outfit that matches ours.”
Chantel’s mum is Jan Ashton-Rodriguez, a fifth-generation circus performer.
The traditional bareback equestrian act was continued with Jan performing it alongside her husband and children, Chantel and Tamara, until 2004.
Jan said her parents performed the double trapeze and were in every act, this meant there wasn’t much time to change costumes.
“Dad’s got his white tights on, this was a long time ago, and he is up with mum hanging by his legs and he tells her ‘I think I got bitten by a snake’,” Jan recalled.
“He told her a snake must have bitten him as he ran from the caravan to the tent.
“Dad felt something prick him and he had two little puncture marks visible on the white tights as they had started to bleed.
“So they’re doing an act 10 metres in the air above the ring before an audience and he’s starting to sweat … but keeps going.”
Once the act was over and while walking back to the caravan he saw a prickly pear bush and realised it’d caught his tights as he ran past it.
“The point is he thought he got bitten by a snake but continued the act thinking he’d take care of that once he’d finished,” she laughed.
The show went on and yes, even babies had to wait for it to finish before making an entrance back then.
There have been times when ‘the show must go on’ has pushed the limits of what’s reasonable.
“I was born when mum went into labour six weeks early,” Jan said.
“Mum was doing the music and her waters broke, she wrapped herself in a towel and finished playing the music and doing the announcing before dad drove her to the hospital where I was born.
“My nana was a wire walker and she walked right up to the night before her baby was born.”
There’s an element of risk to everything the performers do, but it’s calculated risk.
“Look, I am not a fan of the motorbike but Jefferson does it,” Chantel said.
“When [Matias] sees the motorbike, he runs to it and always wants to sit on it.
“He’s also straight into the globe after the show.” (The globe is where Jefferson performs his motorbike stunts).
The easiest act is one requiring small or few props.
“We always say it’s something that can fit in your suitcase, like a juggler,” she said.
“The globe is such a massive prop to get from town to town, and there are weight restrictions.
“We need engineers and it can be a difficult task.
“Jefferson always says ‘I should have picked something smaller and been a juggler, then I could carry my props in a backpack.”
In her administration role, Chantel is across all the health and safety requirements needed for a show.
“There is a lot of paperwork and hoops we have to jump through to put a performance on,” she said.
“A lot of people don’t realise how much admin and paperwork goes on behind the scenes to get approval to put on a show.
“It’s easier to be a performer than do the admin for a circus, and I know because I’ve done both.”
