What happens when circus artists get in the studio and throw gender, circus practice, history, sexuality,body image, theatre, writing, devising, drag and movement into one big melting pot? This thesisattempts to answer this question. Using Barbette (a genderbending circus artist active in the early-mid20th century) as catalyst, frame and partner in this research, I set out to develop what I’ve named “theopen source play”: an innovative performance-making tool that would enable fellow circus practitionersto become active creators, guiding them in devising an autobiographical show through the lenses ofcircus history and queer theory. I began by fleshing out Barbette: his life, his person and personae asreflected through both primary and secondary sources, and within the wider historical context of dragperformance. I then investigated my own personal relationship to this research, extracting interactionsand testing the roads I envision other devising artists might travel when engaging with The BarbetteProject. Taking a step back, I examined the history of female circus artists and the tropes surroundingthem — constructing a lens for gendered analysis of circus performance which I then applied tocontemporary aerial acts that play with gender. Adding on layer after layer, I concocted The BarbetteProject’s open source play and mapped out the various methods and approaches it takes. Evaluating thetwo-year period of research, I traced the devising and creation process as it unfolded over four stages ofResearch & Development conducted with diverse teams in different environments. As for the result ofthis research, I borrow from the words of poet T.S. Elliott: “We shall not cease from exploration / Andthe end of all our exploring / Will be to arrive where we started / And know the place for the first time.”