What does it actually take to turn circus into a career?
James Bustar recently joined Lachie for Episode 173 of the Behind the Scenes podcast, talking about more than 25 years as a professional entertainer, becoming a Sydney juggler, performing around the world, life on cruise ships and eventually joining forces with his partner, Kylie Simpson, to create the work they now perform together through Chaos Meets Circus.
The conversation went well beyond juggling tricks. It explored the unpredictable reality of live performance, the importance of connecting with an audience and how two very different circus performers have ended up building a life, businesses and shows together.
You can listen to the full Behind the Scenes interview with James Bustar on Spotify.
From Magic Tricks to Professional Juggler
James has been performing since he was about five years old. Growing up in the UK, he would perform magic tricks at garden parties and appeared as an extra on television, originally thinking that magic might become his future.
That changed after moving to Australia and learning to juggle at Club Med. What started as another skill quickly became something much bigger. James describes it simply in the interview, his dream became his passion, and his passion eventually became his job.
That career has now taken James Bustar to audiences in more than 30 countries, including festivals, corporate events, agricultural shows and years of performing on cruise ships.
Being a Sydney Juggler Is About More Than Juggling
One of the most interesting parts of the conversation was James’s approach to the difference between circus skill and entertainment.
James spent years developing the technical foundations of his work, including training at Flying Fruit Fly Circus between the ages of 14 and 19, when training could mean around six hours a day. After more than 25 years of professional performing, however, his focus is now much more about what happens around the trick.
His performances combine juggling, physical comedy, improvisation and audience interaction. Rather than simply demonstrating technical ability, James uses the juggling as a way to create something with the audience in front of him.
It’s an approach that can be seen throughout his comedy juggling shows and particularly in his roving entertainment, where there isn’t necessarily a traditional stage separating the performer from the crowd.
That idea of connection is also a huge part of what James and Kylie now create together.
Two Very Different Circus Performers
Chaos Meets Circus brings together two performers whose backgrounds and performance styles are very different.
James brings comedy, juggling, improvisation and an ability to turn unexpected audience interactions into part of the performance. Kylie Simpson brings a very different circus vocabulary through aerial performance, cyr wheel, dance trapeze, lollipop lyra, stilt walking and immersive circus performance.
Together, those differences are what make the partnership work.
James’s career has always leaned heavily into chaos, comedy and audience connection, while Kylie’s work brings visual circus skill, movement and theatricality. Through Chaos Meets Circus, those two worlds can exist alongside each other rather than trying to make one performer fit the other’s style.
For larger events, that creative partnership also extends through Cirqular Entertainment, where James and Kylie work with a broader network of circus artists to create entertainment for corporate events, festivals, shopping centres and other live experiences.
When Live Entertainment Doesn’t Follow the Plan
Anyone who has worked in live entertainment knows that audiences don’t always follow the script.
James shared several examples with Lachie, including ripping his pants during a show and unexpectedly revealing his underwear to the audience. On another occasion, two audience volunteers somehow ended up in a routine involving a dolphin trainer, someone pretending to be a dolphin and a juggling club accidentally connecting with a volunteer’s head.
There was also the slightly less dangerous but equally inconvenient occasion when James arrived at an airport with the wrong road case. Instead of the equipment required to perform his show, he’d accidentally brought a case filled with folded towels after moving house.
These stories are funny afterwards, but they also demonstrate something important about professional live entertainment. A performer needs to be able to react to what’s actually happening in the room.
That unpredictability is a big part of why roving circus entertainment works so well at events. Every interaction is different, and the performer has to respond to the people, space and atmosphere around them.
Circus Life Doesn’t Stop at the Stage
The podcast also explored some of the less glamorous realities of travelling as a professional circus performer.
When your luggage contains unusual circus equipment and a pogo stick, airport check-in and customs can become performances of their own. James has actually had to remove his pogo stick from his luggage and demonstrate it at airport check-in desks because staff didn’t believe that was genuinely what he was carrying.
One of the more significant travel stories discussed was James’s return to cruise ships during the pandemic. He was chosen by Royal Caribbean as one of the first entertainers to return to sea when cruising began operating again out of Singapore, performing while much of the wider entertainment industry was still shut down.
It’s one chapter in a career that has taken James far beyond Sydney, while still bringing him back to the Australian events industry today.
Building Circus Around Connection
During the interview, James also spoke about working with Kylie and the businesses they’ve developed together.
Cirqular Entertainment was originally started by Kylie as a solo business before James and Kylie became a couple. As their personal and professional lives came together, they began working on the business together with a shared goal, using circus to create connection.
That same philosophy sits naturally behind Chaos Meets Circus. Whether James and Kylie are performing together, roving through an event or presenting different feature acts within the same program, the aim isn’t simply to place circus skills in front of people. It’s to create moments that change the atmosphere of an event and give audiences something to respond to together.
Through Cirqular Entertainment, that approach can expand into larger circus entertainment packages, while Event Act Connect provides another way for event organisers to discover performers and entertainment options when a brief requires something beyond James and Kylie themselves.
Making Circus a Career
Towards the end of the podcast, Lachie asked James what advice he would give someone who wants to become a professional performer but isn’t sure whether it’s possible to make a career from it.
James’s answer came back to taking the risk, putting in the work and becoming part of the community. A career in entertainment isn’t always easy or predictable, but meeting other performers, asking questions and being willing to ask for help can make an enormous difference.
It’s something that resonates with the way James and Kylie work today. Circus might happen under lights on a stage, but the career behind it is built through relationships, collaboration, experience and a lot of work that an audience will never see.
Where Chaos Meets Circus
More than 25 years after James first turned juggling into a career, his work now takes several different forms. He continues to perform his own James Bustar comedy juggling shows, while James and Kylie combine their skills through Chaos Meets Circus and work with other professional artists through Cirqular Entertainment.
For clients looking beyond a single act, Event Act Connect also provides access to a wider range of entertainment, helping connect events with performers suited to the individual brief.
For James and Kylie, though, the common thread remains the same. Circus is at its best when it creates connection. Sometimes that’s through a spectacular aerial performance, sometimes it’s a piece of juggling, and sometimes it’s James standing at an airport check-in desk bouncing on a pogo stick because nobody believes what’s inside his luggage.
Listen to James Bustar on Behind the Scenes
A huge thank you to Lachie and the Behind the Scenes team for giving James the opportunity to talk about the career behind the performance. Episode 173 covers everything from his beginnings as a young performer to cruise ships, comedy, juggling, working with Kylie and the strange reality of building a professional life around circus.
Listen to Episode 173 of Behind the Scenes with James Bustar on Spotify.
To discover more, explore James Bustar for James’s comedy juggling and live entertainment, Cirqular Entertainment for professional circus entertainment and Event Act Connect for a wider range of event performers and entertainment options.
