The “Backyard”

If this photo looks chaotic, that’s because it probably was in real life. This snapshot shows the backstage area of a circus in action. At least, it appears to be organized chaos! You can see performers, animals, and stagehands working and getting ready to enter the stage for their time in the spotlight.

You can see lines of horses and performers staged for their entrances through the backdoor of the big top tent. This backstage area was eventually coined “the backyard” by most circus employees. The nickname makes sense! It looks like a huge, lively backyard full of every magical thing you could imagine.