When the coronavirus pandemic first struck, it sent the members of a small Adelaide community circus into a spiral.

Lolly Jar Circus was shut down for four months, with worrying health implications for its members.

“We have a lot of participants with autism and young people in general, but particularly young people with autism, thrive on routine,” circus founder Judy Bowden said.

“When that’s disrupted, it’s really stressful and it’s very distressing.”

Now the circus is back, although some places remain empty as cautious parents keep more vulnerable kids at home.

But Lolly Jar isn’t standing still, having won funding to produce a stage show about the coronavirus and its impact on the tight-knit circus community.

“Bug off, that’s our way of telling the coronavirus to get lost … and it’s kind of the way a kid might say it,” Ms Bowden said.

She said one of the teenagers, who had autism and rarely spoke, showed his high levels of anxiety during the height of the COVID crisis by repeating over and over, “we’ve got to get rid of coronavirus…”

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