THINGS THAT WE LEARN FROM THE NIGHT CIRCUS

  THINGS THAT WE LEARN FROM

"THE NIGHT CIRCUS"

      

The Night Circus is a phantasmagorical fairy tale set near an ahistorical Victorian London in a wandering magical circus that is open only from sunset to sunrise. Le Cirque des Rêves (The Circus of Dreams) features such wonders and "ethereal enigmas" as a blooming garden made all of ice, acrobats soaring without a net, and a vertical cloud maze where patrons who get lost simply step off and float gently to the floor. The circus has no set schedule, appearing without warning and leaving without notice; they travel in a train disguised as an ordinary coal transport. A network of devoted fans styling themselves "rêveurs" ("dreamers") develops around the circus; they identify to each other by adding a splash of red to garb that otherwise matches the characteristic black and white of the circus tents. The magical nature of the circus is occluded under the guise of legerdemain: the illusionist truly transforms her jacket into a raven and the fortune teller truly reads the uncertain future, and both are applauded for their ingenuity.

The circus serves a darker purpose beyond entertainment and profit, however. Two powerful magicians, Prospero the Enchanter and the enigmatic Mr. A.H-, groom their young proteges, Celia Bowen and Marco Alisdair, to proxy their rivalry with the exhibits as a stage. Prospero teaches his daughter to hone her innate talents by holding ever larger and more complex magical workings in her mind. Celia takes her position on the game board as the illusionist who makes true transformations, adding tents and maintaining wondrous aspects from the inside. Mr. A.H- trains his orphan ward with books in the ways of glyphs and sympathetic magic and illusory worlds that exist only in the mind of the beholder. Marco takes a position as an assistant to the producer of the circus—he works from the outside in, connected to the circus via a magical link to the central bonfire, but not a part of it. The two beguile the circus goers and each other with nightly wonders, soon falling in love despite being magically bound to a deadly competition with rules neither understands.

As the competition continues, both competitors become strained with no sign of a conclusion in sight, nor inclination of how a winner will be determined. Others within the circus start to notice strange events connected to it: the blueprints disappear from the designers' offices, and the performers appear bound to the circus and can never fail, leave permanently, have accidents, or even age. Poppet and Widget, twins born to a performer on opening night, have developed magical powers. The producer of the circus has his memories erased, and one of the initial investors dies in dubious circumstances when they begin to discover the underlying truth of the circus. When the building tensions between Prospero and A.H- and the jealousy of Marco's ex-girlfriend spurned for Celia result in an innocent "rêveur" being accidentally stabbed in a circus tent, Celia begins to search for a way to end the game as quickly as possible while preserving the circus and those involved with it.

Celia learns from Prospero that the game must continue until one of the participants is unable to go on, which usually means their death. She also learns the circus contortionist, Tsukiko, is not only a magician herself but the winner of a previous contest in which her opponent committed suicide. After Celia and Marco's negotiations with their mentors fail, Tsukiko believes the competition is putting the circus and its members at risk. She plans to magically kill Marco to end the contest, believing him to be less important than Celia because he was not part of the circus. At the last moment, Celia rushes to save him, resulting in the two being ripped from reality and becoming incorporeal spirits bound to the circus. With its magical keystones removed, the central bonfire goes out and the circus environment begins to break down. Celia and Marco preserve the circus by magically rebinding Poppet, Widget, and their new friend, a keen circusgoer called Bailey, back to the circus, relighting the fire and bringing back the spirit of the circus.

With Celia and Marco both existing only as ghosts, unable to compete but content to haunt the circus together forever, the contest is declared complete via stalemate with no winner. Poppet and Widget negotiate the release of the remaining circus properties from the former producer and Mr. A.H-, and the book ends with the revelation that Poppet, Widget, Bailey and the circus still exist in the modern day, preserved for a century and more.

Things that we learn from THE NIGHT CIRCUS

 1. Decide the effect you want to have on the people who experience your work, and have that be your guiding vision. Lefèvre was sparked into creating a work of absolute transcendence, and never strayed from that central vision. Every element — the performers, the food, the tent setups, the costumes, seriously everything — was examined meticulously against this vision, as well as against everything else that had been selected, to see if it passed muster. By not compromising on the vision, the Night Circus surpassed their already-high expectations, sharing its transcendent qualities onto all that come by.

One aspect of sticking to the vision that is especially strong within the book is the use of black and white as the central Circus colours. Every tent, costume, prop, and other material in the circus follows this down to the last detail: about the only part of the circus that isn’t black & white is the bright red hair of the twins Poppet and Widget, which soon becomes a trademark of theirs. They even bring the colour theme to the everlasting bonfire, lit in their opening ceremony with arrows of rainbow fire merging to create a bright white blaze. Attention to details like these are crucial in bringing your vision to transcendence.

2. Assemble a team of trusted people with both skill and passion, and encourage them to find other contributors that also match the vision. Lefèvre’s team had people who were both skilled and passionate in fashion and costuming, architecture, observational & interpersonal skills, performanceship, and sensory experiences. They were all top in their fields and regarded their skills not just as a job but as a life pursuit of passion and dedication — it didn’t feel like menial work, but like a meaningful and powerful journey. These people were then trusted to use their knowledge and taste to find other contributors: the architect eventually finds a world-class clockmaker whose work fits the vision of the Night Circus, and this clockmaker eventually becomes the Circus’s biggest advocate. Eventually even the cast of the Circus add their own touches, building from inside experience.

Picking a great crew from the beginning isn’t just about what they do, but also about their commitment and belief to your vision, and mutual trust. Lefèvre wouldn’t get anything done if he had to micro-manage the whole endeavour, but his choice of people meant that he could trust them to keep the vision going in ways that he himself could not do, while spending more time on the particular skills and passions he brings to the table. In return, his team feel a strong sense of agency and ownership, and they feel just as strong a need to fulfill the vision of transcendence — a vision as much theirs as Lefèvre’s.

3. Take risks on the uncertain if it means a better chance at fulfilling your vision. Celia, one of the two leads in the story, auditions for the Night Circus without any prior professional performance experience. Had Lefèvre and crew only gone for those with experience, they would have likely found no one worthy of the vision — but they let Celia showcase her skills and passions and found in her an absolute treasure.

Taking on Celia also had a side bonus: since she was not stuck on a particular style of performing, she was more flexible with adjusting what she already had with the Circus’s style and vision — eventually contributing a great deal to the Circus itself. There are plenty of people who have worked hard at their passions, and are busy exploring opportunities to share them with others. Their enthusiasm can sometimes override inexperience: their eagerness to participate leads to them working harder towards your vision, because they believe in it so much already and want the best from it — whereas those with some experience may just see it as an opportunity for themselves and not see themselves as part of a greater whole.

4. Involve all the senses; go holistic and ambient. Part of the original Circus team are two sisters, Tara and Lainie Burgess, who are noted for their keen sense of observation and their ability to interact with all sorts of people. Their contribution to the Circus is not necessarily as obvious as the architecture, the performances, or the costuming, but without it the Circus could not be as transcendent as it is: they provide the ambience and atmosphere.

The air is often thick with scents of caramel and autumn leaves, consistently there no matter the weather or season. The music and lighting are carefully chosen to suit the mood of the exclusively black-and-white palette. “Even the weight of the velvet curtains at the entrance”, notes the book, is carefully considered. We often consider sight as our main sensory input, but other senses such as touch and smell are just as evocative — if not so — of memories and fantasies. It transforms an event into a whole another world, so much so that when you encounter even a smidgen of those sensory feelings again — the smell of caramel or similar music in the background — you are immediately transported back and reminded of the experience. As Lainie says when discussing the Circus atmosphere.

The finest of pleasures are always the unexpected ones. You may tell a tale that takes up residence in someone's soul, becomes their blood and self and purpose. That tale will move them and drive them and who knows that they may might do because of it, because of your words. That is your role, your gift.                        -Erin Morgenstern, The Night Circus