WHEN circus ringmaster and actor Chris Barltrop came to Cornwall in the early 1970s to perform under the Big Top, he didn’t think he'd return one day in the character of the man who invented the modern circus just over 250 years ago.

Over the years, Chris' long career with circuses touring Great Britain has brought him to the Peninsula several times, performing with famous names such as Gerry Cottle and the celebrated Moscow State Circus.

So why the historical slant?

“Often at the end of a circus performance, audience members ask me how circuses began”, says Chris. “Eventually, I did some research, and decided the best way to tell the story would be from the mouth of the man who started it all back in the late 1760s”.

That man was Sergeant-Major Philip Astley, "late of His Majesty's Royal Regiment of Light Dragoons". Joining up as a hot headed youth of 17, Astley spent spare time learning horse-back tricks. He became famous as a war hero, so when he left the army and gave public displays of his equestrian skills, his celebrity status drew the crowds from day one.

Astley was partnered by his wife Patty, also a skilled rider. To enhance their shows, they added other performers: rope-walkers, acrobats, a clown. They performed in London for the King and Queen, they were invited to the French Royal Court and other European Courts. The much-loved format we call 'circus' was set, and rapidly spread across the world.

Chris wanted to tell the whole story, and also to display Astley's character and personality. He researched and wrote his one-man play Audacious Mr Astley, which gained five-star reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe and has been performed at Literary and Arts Festivals all over the country.

“The whole thing is carefully authentic from start to finish - the man himself, his cavalry costume, the contemporary music,” said Chris.

A performance on October 11 at the Old Library, Bodmin, will be the play's first and only performance in the West. Tickets from intobodmin.co.uk/events