Emma McAlpine and Naima Khan try their hand at some circus stunts with the hilarious Slightly Fat Features.
Don't ever say we hide up in our ivory tower here at Spoonfed. In the past we've reported from the front line of the London events battlefield: graffitying walls, speed-dating, operating puppets, swing dancing and even trying our hand at stand-up comedy. So it was inevitable that at some point we'd be tied up in a straitjacket and taught how to juggle with Indian clubs.
Today we're in Covent Garden to learn some circus tricks off Slightly Fat Features, a seven-man comedy variety group returning to the Roundhouse this April with an all-new show. Blending circus tricks with live music, comedy and a dash of old school music hall, the group have enjoyed sell-out performances at the Brighton Fringe Festival, Bristol's Tobacco Factory and the Blackpool international festival. They've taught Alan Titchmarsh to spin plates and ride a miniature clown bike and challenged Evan Davis to escape from a straitjacket and chains on The Today Show.
Now it's our turn...
Mercifully, we're not abandoned to our own wits, and escapologist Gareth Jones offers Emma a demonstration, which is of course hilarious.
She's soon strapped in and looking oddly at ease with the whole process. Failure to escape would result in huge embarrassment in the middle of Covent Garden. “Every time we do escapology stunts, we run the risk of getting stuck, but it hasn't happened yet,” they tell us. “We had a problem once in Exeter Arts Festival when it took longer than normal and Gareth was upside down 10 feet in the air – it did add genuine tension”
Two minutes and forty-nine seconds in and she's set a record of some kind we imagine. The boys seem impressed if a little disappointed at the lack of freaking out: “You didn't manage to swear like Alan Titchmarsh but you now hold the record for journalist escapology. You beat Evan Davis by nine minutes! Fancy trying it upside down at the Roundhouse next week?" Fat chance.
Some wise person decides to hand Naima “the dropper” Khan a set of Indian clubs to juggle. They soon see sense and give her just one.
Compere, actor and singer Matt Barnard (in the fez) and performer Richard Garaghty (in the bow tie) offer some tips: “Learn to juggle one ball first. Sounds stupid but by just throwing one ball between hands in a big arc, it will help later. Then practice with two, and as the first ball reaches half way to the opposite hand throw the other ball. It should be throw, throw, catch, catch. Not throw and pass which a lot of people do naturally. Then practice with three. Always start with the hand with two balls in, use the two ball practice to find the rhythm and whenever there’s a ball half way across throw the ball from the opposite hand.”
Like true circusmen they tell us, “the hardest trick is to always get people to laugh, and we'll be trying to master that for eternity...”
Variety in The House from Slightly Fat Features runs at from 19th -23rd April at The Roundhouse
Images by Alex Brenner.
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