Circus performer Merrik Ashton makes producer debut in Lassu at Taylor Reserve during Fringe World 2025

Performing in his family’s circus from the age of 11 meant Merrik Ashton was not asked what he wanted to be while growing up. Instead, he was asked if he wanted to take over the Circus Joseph Ashton business. He never saw himself taking on the additional responsibility whenever his dad retired, nor did he feel comfortable just being handed something like that. “I felt like I kind of wanted to earn something in my own right, and I also didn’t know 100 per cent if I wanted to go and actually be the one putting the show on, because performing at a high level was taking all my energy,” 30-year-old Ashton says. “It wasn’t until the downtime we had with COVID-19 (also allowing Ashton the recovery time to alo undergo much-needed shoulder surgery) where I was actually a bit like ‘OK, maybe I do want to do this’, and once that spark was inside me, I had to satiate that need to produce shows that have my own impact on the performing landscape.” The seventh-generation circus performer will make his producer debut with the world premiere of Lassu at Fringe World 2025, overjoyed to be marking the milestone in his adopted home town, where his wife and singer Maddison spent her formative years in City Beach. “I’m not just saying it because that’s where we’re doing it, but I honestly could not think of a better place than Perth to open a show,” Sydney-born Ashton says. “I feel like I grew up in Perth because we took a show there when I was about 11 years old, and we played the suburbs around WA for 12 years. People just kept coming to the show, so we had no real reason to leave WA.” During that time, as Ashton perfected his skills on the slackwire — chosen out of sibling rivalry when he realised he was better at it than his older brother Jordan — dad Joseph also ensured some sort of normality for his sons, including playing cricket for South Perth Cricket Club. “We were very fortunate because my dad would schedule the shows around the cricket season, so we wouldn’t be doing a show too far away,” Ashton says. “I mean, sometimes if our match was at Joondalup and we were doing a show in Mandurah, that was a bit of a drive, but that was as bad as it got for us. “If we played Saturday morning, we wouldn’t have a show until the afternoon or evening.” Now Ashton and Maddison, with their own two children under two years old, will perform in Lassu, a saucy adult cabaret blending modern and traditional circus skills with singing, dance and burlesque. Under a smaller and more intimate bespoke big top than Ashton is accustomed to — there is no room for the Wheel of Death or flying trapeze acts here — the Taylor Reserve venue on the Swan River foreshore will have more of a spiegeltent energy. The show sees Ashton reunite with Helpmann Award-winning choreographer Mitchell Woodcock as its creative director, having briefly worked together seven years ago on an aerial straps routine. “While working with him then, it was always at the back of my mind, ‘my God, just give this guy free rein on a show and he’d knock it out of the park’,” Ashton says. “His attention to detail and his ideas and creativity is off the charts, which is something that’s not a big strength of mine. So I spoke to him initially, I told him what I liked, the energy and the vibe that I wanted, and then asked ‘what do you think we should do?’ “It’s quite a fresh take with modern aspects and a little more contemporary than what I am used to being in.” Set in a cosmic cabaret saloon perched at the edge of the galaxy, the show ventures beyond the stars as it features space cowboys, alien drifters and some legendary rodeo sisters in out-of-this-world performances. “We didn’t want to call it Lasso, because I felt like that was just a bit too Australian bogan. I think Lassu sounds a nicer to say,” Ashton laughs. “There’s an event that happens at the start of the show, where people see the saloon in all its glory before it goes into a decrepit state. The story has the main character, kind of reliving the glory days of the saloon, and then hopefully bringing it back to life for the completion of the show. Whether that will happen, I’ll leave it up to the audiences to come and see. “Obviously when it’s your own money on the line, things are a little bit different, but I’m doing everything in my power to produce something special.” Lassu is at Taylor Reserve, Victoria Park, January 15-February 16, tickets at lassutheshow.com.au.