A Welsh dairy farmer who traded the familiar pastures of his village for the vibrant, nomadic existence of the circus, has said he loves his new lifestyle because he can visit places that he would “never have gone to”.
Owain Evans, 24, from Cwmbach near Whitland in west Wales, grew up on a dairy farm that has been in his family for generations, with farming heritage on both his father’s and mother’s sides.
He described his childhood as idyllic because he was “outside all the time” – and he started to do “odd jobs” around the farm from the age of 13, like milking cows, fixing fences, and bailing hay.
When he finished school at 18 in 2019, Owain worked full-time on the farm, helping his father with the upkeep of the roughly 100 milking cows on the property.
He became aware of the circus as a profession when one of his best friends, Iolo Petersen, joined and then invited Owain to help out with building and repairs around the start of 2025.
By Christmas that same year, Owain travelled internationally to places like Salzburg and Marseilles to help build the tent for another circus, before he joined The Revel Puck Circus for a few days over Christmas at their Winter Festival in Walthamstow.
This led to Owain deciding to officially join the latter circus for their summer tour, A Glimmer Daze Gambit, that started in March this year.
Owain is mainly part of the ring crew, meaning he helps backstage with repairs, management and bringing on props, as well as in the front of house with service and performing in the show.
He has been a part of an act called the rolla bola, where he is part of a team of performers who balance on a platform teetering on a giant ball, as well as dance routines too.
Owain told PA Real Life: “I love travelling around.
“I’ve been to London quite a few times and Cambridge was lovely, we did some nice swimming in the river and the big Lido there. Whitstable by the sea was great and the coolest place was probably the Hippodrome in Great Yarmouth where we put the show there on this big stage. I’ve been to towns that I’d never have gone to… so that’s a big factor for me.”
Throughout his childhood, Owain learnt a lot about farming from his father, as well as skills like welding and fixing tractors.
Owain said: “I feel like that’s just from being around it your whole life.”
He got a welder for Christmas one year in his childhood and he taught himself how to use it, before he put it into practice by helping a neighbour building sheds.
As an adult, Owain described an average day on his family’s farm: “I’ll wake up at 6am, have a coffee, go outside, get the cows in, and milk them. Milking takes about two hours from start to finish. After that, I’ll feed all the calves and then I’ll have some breakfast and chill out for a bit.
“Then I’ll go back outside, scrape everything out, make sure everything’s fed. Once all of that’s done… you’ve got a small window to do things like fixing a fence or a tractor, painting or welding something. And then at about 4pm, I’ll go back and get the cows and milk them again.”
After finishing school at 18, Owain worked full-time on the farm for a total of five years, but by the start of 2025, his friend Iolo had joined a circus and was telling him all about it.
Owain said: “It sounded pretty cool. I wanted to try something different from the farm for a bit… so I just thought I’ve got the opportunity now.”
Knowing Owain had experience with welding and repairs, Iolo encouraged him to help out with maintenance for the circus, which developed into assisting on another tour in Austria and France.
By the winter of 2025, Owain was introduced to The Revel Pucks Circus and he conducted maintenance and repairs for their winter festival in Walthamstow.
He said: “I just worked, and then I guess people saw that I could do the work quite well. At that time, they were looking for people to join and I was recommended by a few people.”
Owain did an interview and was offered the job as ring crew, starting a UK-wide tour in March this year.
Using his welding skills, he helped create a fire arch that a performer rides a bike through for an act in the show.
After a tech session and dress rehearsal, Owain said his first show was as “chaotic” as he had “imagined” it would be with all of the running around he did, but he had “a lot of fun”.
Since then, Owain said they can do up to three shows a day and a typical day involves him helping at the front of house, selling drinks and popcorn, before he throws on his costume of baggy yellow chinos and a blue short-sleeved top.
He will then help bring on a series of props, like mats, balls, a ratchet for a cradle duo act, and the fire arch.
Owain added: “There’s a big bit at the end of the show where the floating stage gets lifted, so there’s four of us that do that. We go in harnesses, climb up the king pole, clip on, and as the lights come on, we slowly lift the stage with the performer on it doing his thing.”
At the end of the show, Owain is part of a troupe-wide dance routine, adding that he likes doing “a bit of both” performing and being behind the scenes.
When performers are ill or absent, Owain said has stepped in to be in the rolla bola act, where up to 10 people are balancing on a “big red ball with a big wooden board on it” and then “two people stand on each other”.
Owain said there are more similarities between the farm and the circus than people might think, including “hard work”, long hours, living where you work, and being outdoors.
At the planned end of the circus tour in September, Owain will go back to the farm and help out his father with the milking of the cows, and then he would like to go “back and forth” between the two.
He said: “It’s quite good how the circus season and farming (overlaps) because I can do a summer tour and then go home for the hardest part of the farming year, which is in winter.”
For Owain, getting out and seeing the world is something he would recommend to others from small towns.
He said: “If you want, just go and experience something different. When you’re young, it’s something you should try and do, because how else are you going to know?”
For more information about The Revel Puck Circus, visit their website here: https://www.revelpuckcircus.com/
