JEDDAH, 2 July 2003 — In slow motion and in perfect synchronization, the circle of 20-meter steel poles rose into its angled position to form a circus tent 56 meters in diameter.

Ian Bately, the tent master, looked at them critically.

“That’s tricky,” he said, “If those aren’t right, nothing else fits.”

The circus has come to town. It took six container trucks to carry the Big Top and accompanying steelwork, hawsers, tools and generators across Saudi Arabia from Dubai this week. It will take Ian and his team three full days to raise a temporary palace of varieties that seats 3,000 spectators.

“There were no real problems,” said Ian. “There was a long delay at customs. No one minded — you have to be careful these days.”

Although this is his first visit to the Kingdom, he is no newcomer to the Gulf. Not stopping to see the show, Ian and his team are back across the desert with a second tent for Dammam. Previously a stunt driver — performing all over the world with just about any kind of vehicle — he gave up and moved into promotion and organization.

“If it moved, I could drive it. Monster trucks to motorcycles, it didn’t matter a lot. But there came a time when I decided that the bones had had enough of a shake-up,” he said.

To erect the tent, Ian used a gang of locally hired labor.

“How these lads work in this heat is a mystery to me,” he said. “They are very willing, but they have not worked with anything quite like this before. Because this is such a complex operation structurally, we have to double and triple check everything. Safety is most certainly the No. 1 priority.”

Once the tent is up, the job of arranging the seating, artists’ areas and lighting begins. Again, positioning and safety are prime considerations.

“It’s taking a bit longer than usual,” Ian said. “Normally when we are on the road doing a run of shows, the trucks are loaded in a specific way — each single piece of equipment has a special place. We can find it in the dark — and have to, sometimes.”

Here, because he needed long-distance transport to a one-off venue, the trucks were hired and equipment stacked in containers.

Taking the whole construction down after the show is somewhat easier.

“Gravity helps, but if pieces are removed in the wrong order, sections could collapse and cause problems. The secret of this is a combination of patience and sequence.”

Late yesterday, the troupe of artists moved into the tent to look at the performance area. Rehearsal begins in earnest this morning. “They won’t be doing much physical work until the air conditioning is working,” said Ian.

Once finished, the tent is solid and safe, meeting and exceeding even the stringent European safety standards.

“We have a team which will check it constantly during a show anyway,” he said. “You just cannot be too safe.”

The circus is scheduled to open on Andalus Street, next to Toys-R-Us, tomorrow.