Alison Neville grew up in Albury, on the border of New South Wales and Victoria – also known as the home of the Flying Fruit Fly Circus. It was there that her passion for circus began. At 16, she shifted focus to technical production. Through HotHouse Theatre she earned a Certificate IV in Live Production, Theatre and Events under the mentorship of renowned lighting designer and operations manager, Rob Scott.
After completing Year 12 and her technical traineeship, Neville moved to Europe, where she toured and worked in technical production across major arts festivals, theatres and touring productions.
In the past 15 years, Neville has become a specialist in spiegeltent and circus production. She has held key roles such as Head of Operations and Production for The Garden of Unearthly Delights at Adelaide Fringe, and Production Manager for festivals and shows including Strut & Fret, La Clique, 8 Stars Monaco, Darwin Festival, RISING and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
Read: RISING launches full festival program for June 2025
So, you’re the (takes a deep breath) Production Manager, Spiegeltent International and Director, Spiegeltents Australia – plus in your spare time (what’s that in the arts sector when it’s at home?) you’re the Head of Operations and Production at The Garden of Unearthly Delights. That’s quite a mouthful – could you please break down your roles for us and explain what it is exactly that you do?
Yes, I am indeed.
Spiegeltents Australia is new company I have founded in the last year working with the hire of spiegeltents within Australia and New Zealand. It’s primarily focused on the hire of The Aurora Spiegeltent, a Dutch spiegeltent previously owned by Van Rosmalen in Holland that has made her way to Australia over the last 10 years and has finally settled here permanently.
Through my company, I not only hire out spiegeltents, but also assist in the logistics around a spiegeltent, assist in production installation and capabilities within the venue (especially circus and cabaret shows) and occasionally dabble in the odd lighting design inside them here and there.
Read: How to succeed in Generation Slashie
Outside of this I work for the wonderful David Bates, who owns Spiegeltent International, as his Production Manager. David owns The Famous Spiegeltent, a beautiful, original 100-year-old spiegeltent that was the very first of its kind in Australia over 20 years ago. He is also the founder of La Clique, a show we are currently touring around Australia in its 20-year anniversary and will be heading to Edinburgh with The Famous for a celebratory season in the Edinburgh Fringe.
And of course there is my first love and home, The Garden of Unearthly Delights. I have just finished my 14th season in The Garden at the Adelaide Fringe. My role there has evolved over that time. Having started as a young and impressionable lighting technician in The Umbrella Revolution big top in 2012, I have progressed through Production Management there and finally landed as the Head of Operations and Production. It’s a role that I have held for three years, in which I manage the unique and beautiful temporary venues we bring in from Australia and internationally. Along with my production manager, I run the internal production install of these venues, and the running and requirements of the approximately 90 shows across each Fringe. On the Operations side of my role, I manage an incredible site management team that deal with all of the essentials and behind the scenes of a festival site, from toilets to security, power to plumbing.
Read: Cabaret review: Bite, The Garden of Unearthly Delights, Adelaide Fringe
And when you’re talking with non-sector friends and family, how do you describe what you do to them?
I work in the arts [laughs]. It is difficult to describe. I often find myself pulling up pictures of spiegeltents on my phone if anyone outside the sector asks me that question.
My family do have an understanding. Although my mother is a nurse and my dad was a pâtissier, all of their children ended up in the arts. My brother is an amazing jazz percussionist who teaches at Adelaide Uni and my powerhouse of a sister is the General Manager for Na Djinang Circus.
And to come back to the first question, what do you actually do in your spare time, when you can find time in your busy schedule?
Spare time can be hard to find in this industry. When I was recently back in Melbourne with some time off, I ended up helping my friend Bart Mangan with production coordinating some events for Yirramboi Festival.
Read: YIRRAMBOI expands globally, welcoming Northern Turtle Island, Canada as its 2025 Focus Nation
Outside of working for pals, I enjoy spending time with my nieces and nephews.
How and why did you get into being the Production Manager, Spiegeltents International and Director, Spiegeltents Australia?
I sometimes feel like I fell into it.
After working at The Garden of Unearthly Delights I travelled more, working at Fringe festivals and events. This led to working with incredible companies around these festivals such as Circus Trick Tease, Briefs, Finucane & Smith, and Strut & Fret.
I eventually landed full-time work with Strut & Fret as their production manager and travelled the world putting on circus shows in, predominantly, spiegeltents.
And what about your work in The Garden, which you’ve had for over nine years – how did you get into that role, and what keeps you coming back, year after year?
I first started my fringe journey in Edinburgh in 2009 at the Edinburgh Fringe, but my true love for festival work and the community behind it came from working in The Garden. As clichéd as it is to say, it is a family and the outrageous ideas and creativity that pours from the place seems to excite and inspire young performers, bar staff, front of house and technicians. I love to see people experience fringe, fall in love with it and use what they have learned and discovered out in the world.
It is often a very transient work place, being seasonal, but I feel like that’s what makes it great – although a few of us stick around for a while.
What’s an average working day or week like for you?
I don’t think I have an average day. And that’s what I enjoy about my work. I could be spending a full day in the office one day, standing on top of a spiegeltent lacing the roof the next, or standing in the studio of the Sydney Opera House calling a technical rehearsal.
What’s the most common misconception about your overlapping jobs – especially as Production Manager, Spiegeltents International – it sounds from that description that you must wrack up a lot of frequent flyer points through internation travel. Do you?
I do fly a lot, both nationally and internationally. Not as much as pre-COVID times, but still a fair bit. I don’t know if there are many misconceptions – just a blank look of having no idea what I do!
If you were interviewing someone to take over your jobs, what skills and qualities would you look for?
I feel I would be looking at a few vastly different skills and qualities for the different hats. Good at spreadsheets and budgets, not afraid of heights, a people person and conflict manager, can write a risk assessment for circus, can lift a mirrored wall panel, knows how to unclog a toilet and can put in council permits, drawing sites and venue plans.
What’s the best thing happening in your sector at the moment?
There are some incredible circus companies building up in the industry at the moment, I really love the works they are presenting. Companies such as Head First Acrobats, YUCK Circus and Gravity and Other Myths.
Read/Listen: Circus and the art of community: The ArtsHubbub episode 16
What is the most memorable thing that’s ever happened in your career?
Having toured a lot of places I have countless wonderful and strange memories, but when asked this question I got a flashback to standing on top of an industrial-sized air-conditioner on a flat rack container on a beach in the Bahamas, ratchet strapping it down to head over to Miami after a season with Strut & Fret in the world’s largest spiegeltent, The Queen of Flanders. It felt very Mad Max.
Click here for more So you want my arts job? stories.
