Circus Post is a series of short films made by Crying Out Loud and film-maker Deborah May contextualising the development of contemporary circus over the past 40 years.

Going by the numbers,  Bristol is our circus city: you’ll find more circus artists there, relative to population, than in any other UK town. Much of the activity revolves around Circomedia, a professional circus school, but spend some time looking and you’ll also uncover the Invisible Circus, a collective of creative squatters staging immense, interactive shows across the building and grounds of an abandoned fire and police station.

Monica Connell’s vivid photos open up this half-hidden world, drawing us into scenes of performance and pageantry; of Gothic darkness and Victorian decay; of fire and chaos and long, full, memorable nights.