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Circus Mania, 30 April 2018
In 1988, Truman founded Skinning the Cat, a pioneering all-woman trapeze troupe that performed principally at outdoor events throughout Britain and Europe, but also in circus tents and theatres. Truman was star, costumer, artistic director, rigger, truck driver... in fact, she did pretty much everything. Her reluctance or inability to delegate responsibility led to an punishing schedule that eventually brought her to the point of breakdown.
“My years as an aerialist are divided into before and after the falls,” she writes on the first page. “Those accidents changed everything. Before the falls I was running wild and fulfilling my fantasies. Afterwards, it became all too real.”
When Truman’s colleague Lou plunges head-first to a concrete floor, the dangers of trapeze are brought violently home to the reader. Was Lou’s accident Truman’s responsibility for running an un-funded company too close to the brink of exhaustion? When Truman subsequently breaks an ankle (that never heals properly) was it her fault for bringing a still-recovering Lou back to work too soon, or for not training her sufficiently on the lunge that would have prevented Truman’s accident? Those are the questions that haunt her as company leader. But the show always goes on. Forced to hobble on stage on crutches, Truman creates a character that makes the crutch part of her act. In the air, the trapeze frees her from her disability. Everyone in the circus has a colourful story to tell, but few can tell their own tale as well as Truman. In this gripping journey into the life and mind of a trapeze artist, Truman writes with all the evocative colour and underlying precision of the shows she describes With a novelist’s eye for detail, she brilliantly evokes the glitter and grit of her surroundings at art school, in training gyms, in lorries and caravans, and freezing cold offices in derelict former woollen mills. For students of the trapeze, Aerialist is essential reading. There’s an insider’s manual worth of detail on every aspect of how to run and rig a show, down to how to remove a cobblestone from a town square in order to drive in a stake to anchor the rig - or, if that doesn’t work, anchor it from a builder’s skip.
But this is also the story of a life. From a bohemian childhood scarred by sexual abuse by her grandfather, and the death of her father when she was young, to the nervous breakdown when all those unresolved issues eventually caught up with her, Truman reveals how her career on the trapeze was driven by the desire to escape. Her narrative is broken up and enriched by the accounts of her mother, company members and, memorably, Zippos founder Martin Burton who recalls asking the Arts Council for funding in the days when circus wasn’t recognised as an art form. Sitting in opulent offices full of furniture he reckoned was worth more than his entire circus, he was told, “If we had any money we’d give it to you.” Since they claimed not to have the money, he decided to steal the reception desk - a plan that failed when he couldn’t get it through the revolving doors. Many years later, when Burton was appointed chairman of the Arts Council's Circus Advisory Committee, he told them, “You obviously don’t remember the last time I was here.” “Yes we do,” they said, “which is why the desk is screwed down.” The text is also peppered with information boxes that provide a glossary of trapeze moves and equipment - Skinning the Cat takes its name from an aerial manoeuvre - plus some poems by Truman that offer insights into an aerialist’s connection to her work that mere prose couldn’t quite capture. It all adds up to a thrilling read that sits with the best circus memoirs, such as Nell Gifford’s Gifford’s Circus - The First Ten Years (and Josser, written as Nell Stroud) and Gerry Cottle’s Confessions
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As a trapeze student myself, I was totally drawn in. Even learning circus as a recreational adult is so all-encompassing, so wrapped up in constant evaluation and pushing limits, body and mind, that finding someone else's perspective that echoed mine in so many ways... I needed this book.
The structure of the memoir is exactly what I like, with multiple primary sources: every chapter starts with a trick or circus term, and then relating it to the chapter; the book has frequent excerpts from other performers, family members, fellow students at her art school -- these all enhanced the book.
I also really appreciate the level of detail. As I started figuring out what kind of costume would hold up to trapeze performance, I was fascinated how she figured out the curls of gold leather inlaid over spandex. And as many ribald and hilarious adventures happened on the road, she was also unafraid to go into how grueling it could be, and the emotional and physical roller coaster that she experienced. The sometimes overdrive in her focus needed for such intense, visionary directing. The transcendent and dangerous experiences in performing. The amazing connection and sometimes hilarity of artistic collaboration in the air. Honestly, by the end, I wished I had been in her troupe. But it also gave me a great appreciation of the work that is required in keeping every performer in top condition on the road, setting up and striking giant metal structures for every performance like clockwork and requiring no outside help.
I thought a lot about Brave Space, the splendid all-woman traveling circus I got to see earlier this year from Chicago -- I offered to help them set up/strike; they must have been amused, because they let me hold a pole during setup, but... obviously they didn't need my help to set up or strike, because they too were like clockwork and set up in 20 minutes with 7 people. I ... I know this now, and feel silly for asking! But I'm still glad I got to hold the pole.
Anyway, this book is a little hard to come by, because you need to order it directly from the author, in the UK. I recommend doing so. I wish I could give a copy to every director and trapeze friend that I know. It was that good.
Circus 250
The Circus Diaries
'Aerialist' tells the unsung story of Becky's company, Skinning The Cat, a vibrant part of the late 20th Century circus landscape, who were instrumental in the development of new circus within the UK - and all women! Her book captures a time, a movement, a passion, and the strains on mental health that a creative career can so easily wreak. It's an important modern addition to the annals of circus literature and I feel privileged to be let in on the story.
Circus Friends association facebook page
from the current pandemic and consequential political fallout. I first saw it advertised
here; I had vaguely heard of skinning the cat but never had the privilege to see them
perform and so I was intrigued and bought a copy. I found it to be an informative, moving and fascinating read about a life so very different from my own. Becky has an engaging writing style and an ability to describe the key events in her career from growing up in Bristol, starting aerial, building and delivering the Skinning the Cat concept, touring and performing at festivals across Europe; and the resulting physical and emotional fallout from her experiences. The book has a rather unique layout, with close friends also providing their own accounts of the key events and pressures on Becky; an interesting use of 360 degree feedback that provides additional insight.
Circus performer on facebook
Becky Truman who I had the pleasure to work with one Summer long ago (during my very short & non illustrious career as an aerialist!). She's the real deal and one of a number of hard core & fabulous women of circus for whom I have the utmost respect. If you want to know an inside story of training and touring as a Circus performer - Buy this book! Even if you don't - Buy this book!!!