Marion Fossett, one of the best known figures in Irish circus entertainment, has died at the age of 71.
The long-time ring mistress for Fossett’s Circus, Fossett died in hospital following an illness. She is survived by her siblings Edward, Robert, Angela and Mona.
“Marion is a huge loss to the family,” her niece, Sonya Fossett, said on Saturday. “It’s hard to put into words how much she meant to all of us as we spent most of our lives together living and working in the family business.
“Not only was she the face and voice of our business, she was a mother figure to the whole family. The kettle was always on, advice always at the ready and diamantés on standby.”
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Sonya described her aunt as passionate about her work, and said she “lived to entertain” as a ring mistress, singer, actress and artist.
“Most importantly she was a loving sister, auntie and sister-in-law,” Sonya said. “At the moment, it’s hard to imagine the show without her both in the circus ring and out of it. She’s left a huge hole in our lives. There’ll never be another Marion.
“The Diva is irreplaceable.”
In a statement on social media on Saturday, Fossett’s Circus shared news of Marion’s death, saying “she was a shining star in our lives and we are heartbroken by her loss”.
Fossett’s Circus was set up by Marion’s great-grandfather George Lowe and has been touring Ireland since 1888. Marion Fossett took over the role of ringmaster from her father, Ted Fossett, in 1998 not long before his death. Her mother, Herta, died in 2024.
Alongside Maxi and Frances Campbell, Marion Fossett was a member of showband and pop trio Sheeba, who toured for years and represented Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1981, singing Horoscopes. She performed cabaret, acted in a film and appeared regularly on television.
Though her career took her to different places, Fossett was drawn back to the circus, which she described as home. In 2010, she told The Irish Times, “you can take the sawdust out of your shoes but you can’t shake it out of your blood”.
“It’s our job to create magic,” Marion said in the same piece. “The most romantic thing people have about the circus is there’s a field with nothing, and then we arrive. By the time they arrive, we’ve transformed it into a village of colour.”
