ABSTRACT
IN CONTRAST TO THE TRADITIONAL sources of other case studies in this section, the circus does not count on identification between performers and a broad audience. Rather, the circus makes a spectacle of its performers’ differences. Circus Amok's members are gay and/or avant garde, and the spectators for its street shows are whoever happen to habituate the city parks. The form is, however, subverted. The very people who might be labeled freaks, from bearded lady ringmaster to evening-gowned male performers, are revealed to share many of the same concerns as their urban spectators via the lively critique-as-circus that ensues.
