Help us finish our show! "One Man and His Ball"

Incase you don’t already know me, my name is Truan Jay Mathias, I’m a circus artist and I specialise in balancing a crystal ball on my head, and his name is Barry, AKA “The Ball”.

I’m raising money to finish making my solo street theatre show, “One Man and His Ball”. I intend to create a full 45 minute show to make it a more viable product by then being able to offer the show to bigger street arts festivals and commercial events worldwide, as well as then giving me the option to apply for cruise ships. Performing my own show offers me the ability to earn at least twice as much as when I’m performing in someone else’s creation, therefore you are also supporting me (and Barry!) to become more financially secure as an artist in the future.

My dream is to perform my own show worldwide, and by supporting me through this GoFundMe, you are helping to make that dream a reality, and also supporting me to spread my own specific brand of mesmerising amazement, meditative calmness and, of course, hilarious idiocy. If you have seen me perform, you will know how this looks, if you haven’t, I will include the current promotional video of my show.

https://youtu.be/m2RVkBmooIk?si=uPEYge2EsOD4NVu3

"Mesmerising show with excellent interactions with the public, full of fun, beauty, and sheer talent. I couldn't recommend it more!" - Giugiu, Library Staff

“Truan is an amazing performer who gives the show that deeper connection by bringing the audience fully along for the ride.” - Graham Ashton, Southern Juggling Convention Organiser

How Your Money Will Be Used

Your Rewards!

Show History - Further Reading…

For ten years I have been gradually developing bits of material with Barry (AKA “The Ball”) since being at circus school, performing them at scratch events, as short acts and short shows, whilst at the same time making a living as a performer by working in other people’s shows and companies both nationally and internationally.

At the beginning of last year, I decided to fully commit to creating my own full length 45 minute street circus-theatre show. I worked with my mentor Samuel Penhastro for two weeks, to pull together and formulate all my “bits” of material from the last ten years. This was very formative in my show’s development. In April I went to Bath in the UK to test the show on the streets there by “busking” it (asking for money in the hat at the end). This was incredibly challenging and I was not making enough money to live, and as I had turned down most other performance work that wasn’t related to my show so that I could focus on my show, I ended up volunteering at a hostel nearby where I perform in Bath so I didn’t need to pay rent and bills whilst I was developing the show and had very little income.

The spring and summer of 2024 was continually challenging, both financially and emotionally. Over the summer the show began to work a little more, but still often not, leading me to question if committing my life to what I believe to be my purpose, was really a legitimate idea. I then had four booked gigs with an early version of the show in July and August, and these worked really well and began to give me the belief I could get a real well paid fee for my own show.

Autumn brought a short stint in a traditional circus in Switzerland performing my own acts, but also an injury, taking a couple of months to recover. Christmas time I received a great well paid contract and went back to doing my street show in Bath, where it really began to work more consistently and I could begin to see my year of committed effort was beginning to pay off.

January 2025 has been non-stop applying for festivals in the UK and Europe as well as sorting out logistical life issues as I live nomadically. February has allowed me to perform my own act in a Barcelona based cabaret, and I have travelled to Dubrovnik to perform my own show outside of the UK for the very first time! This is was a great opportunity, but only paid travel, food and accommodation and we made very little in the hat from busking, as it's still winter there also, very few tourists there right now and the first time this event has run. So right now I have literally no money, what I earned on my Christmas contract has all dried up. I mention all this for you to grasp the reality of my situation, when on Instagram it often looks like fun training in the sun, and great shows in beautiful locations, the reality is I live in Spain some of the winter because life and training there is so much cheaper than the UK (and the sun is great too!), and often events/shows I work at can be very low paid but give me more experience and promotional material for my own work.

I have in the past twice received Arts Council England funding for show creation but the current climate for artists in the UK is very challenging, with a lot of funding being cut and less public spending on community and entertainment in general, making the show creation journey all the more challenging.

So that’s it. I’m impressed if you read this far - I’m a waffler! I really hope to see you at one of my shows and as always, thank you so much for your support, encouragement and kind words, it means more than you know.