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This page last updated:
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
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How to do... Juggling
Duncan Hall has a devil of a time keeping the devil stick airborne. Picture: Andy Laithwaite
Duncan Hall tries his hand at juggling with the Harlequins Musical and Drama Society's cast of Barnum.
WITH one of the world's greatest touring circus shows set to hit the city next week, a drama group is putting together the final touches to a tribute to one of the greatest circus showmen.
Harlequins Musical and Drama Society is currently in final rehearsals for its production of Barnum, the musical story of the man behind The Greatest Show On Earth, Phineas Taylor Barnum.
But the production, which starts on Wednesday, January 31, has not been without its challenges, as director Christine Wenden revealed to me.
She said: "Barnum is extremely difficult to produce – but it doesn't state anywhere that you have to have circus acts.
"The way it was produced on Broadway was that it had a circus theme, but it could equally have been just about the life of PT Barnum."
The company has produced the show twice before: at the Millfield Community Centre, in Lincoln Road, where the group currently rehearses, and at the South Holland Centre, in Market Place, Spalding.
But the regulations at the Key Theatre, in Embankment Road, Peterborough, mean the group is restricted from doing some of the stunts it pulled off in
previous performances.
Christine said: ""We have difficulties with doing things such the high wire and the trapeze because of health and safety. We have had to modify the performance slightly. We couldn't use the death slide in the Key, which is one of the parts in Barnum which is fairly important."
One skill the actors have had to learn is how to juggle, to give a real circus feel to the performance – which has taken a lot of dedicated practise.
All the main parts, except for Barnum himself, are being played by two actors, to ensure as many people as possible in the cast get a chance to tread the boards at the Key.
One of the ringmasters, Dan Low, is being trained in juggling by his ringmaster counterpart Mark Cowdell.
He said: "I have been learning since October/November time. This is my first time doing a main character. There is a lot to learn – but I am really enjoying it and hoping it will all come together."
One juggling circus skill which really caught my eye was the devil sticks, which were being demonstrated expertly by 15-year-old Andrew Wilson.
The devil sticks essentially involve bouncing a baton with a tassle at both ends between two control sticks using the force of equilibrium to keep it moving, seemingly by itself.
It looks very impressive – and Andrew had been practising intensively for more than five months to get it right.
Andrew offered me the chance to have a go myself, and I soon found it wasn't as easy as it looked.
He told me the best way to start was simply to rest one end of the baton on a table and knock it from one control stick to the other like a pendulum to get used to the weight and movement.
Without the table, it required some very precise control to keep the baton in the air. The baton itself was wound with a rubbery spiral, which you have to try and catch and flick upward with the rubbery-tipped control sticks to keep it airborne.
Andrew started me off by resting the baton on top of the two sticks. I then had to drop one stick to let the baton fall to one side and flick it upwards with the remaining stick. In theory, then I would be able to catch it with the dropped stick and start the pendulum movement going by aiming for the top part of the baton as it fell each time.
Sounds great – and it worked for about two seconds. It is largely due to ET photographer Andy Laithwaite's fast trigger finger that we have any images of the devil sticks in the air!
Once you have mastered this basic technique, you can start working on all manner of tricks and impressive skills – according to a website, some daredevils have even done an impressive-looking fiery version of the trick.
I might try and practise a little more before I bring out the petrol and cigarette lighter though...