Flown and flying

My charity, Crying Out Loud (essentially a circus charity even though we cover a larger, if undefinable, area of activity than that) decided (at a board meeting which I failed to attend - always a mistake) to do some fundraising. And what they decided the board members should do is a sponsored aerial stunt after a show by one of the groups we promote - Pirates of the Carabina.

Now the sheer unlikeliness of me, of all people, doing anything aerial prompted what seemed to me an astonishing amount of sponsorship from my friends and colleagues (thanks guys). An objection raised by one of my mates was that you are supposed to get sponsored for doing something grueling (like running 10k in the rain up a mountain) rather than something "cool". Well that in part depends how good you are with heights, but actually in the end he was right.

Anyway, first things first, Cat, one of our Board members gallantly drove us in a mini-van (through atrocious London traffic on a Friday night) to the venue, the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury. Needless to say a lovely city although we saw it only in the dark and briefly - we got to the theatre with less than 10 minutes to spare.

The Marlowe is a lovely theatre too, modern exterior and very comfortable modern auditorium.

The front of house is rather more open than a London theatre, allowing the performers to mingle with the audience before going in, with props.

One of the cool things about the night is that we got to meet the cast members afterwards. I asked one who had thought the performance out, and he said it was all of them, a collaborative effort. And that was very believable, as it is, well, pretty bitty. A bit of a mish-mash. But having said that, also quite terrific, and not without some elements of cohesion linking together various bits of circus skills. Indeed why should it have cohesive master-plan?

The story line, such that it is, is the assumption by one of the troupe, Gloria, that the show is all her show. And lots of things go wrong. It is very much played for laughs, and some parts of it, like the lighting falling down at the beginning, do feel quite realistic rather than purely comic. They come down with quite a crash. There are certainly a lot of good jokes in the show (Gloria's wig coming off and on during an aerial section for example), and lots of live music - the drummer also does tightrope walking and acrobatics. Eat your heart out Phil Collins. There is a strong Finnish bloke who does ever so cool work on a hoop. All in all an entertaining, surreal show that would (and did) appeal to adults and kids alike. It also has a rather nice homely feel to it - they are all professionals, but not too professional.

Anyway, after the show, when the audience were cleared and the performers had had a breather, it was our turn. We were given some choices as to what to do, and we picked the "flying". Essentially you get into a harness (you didn't think I was going to do anything without a harness did you?) and someone acts as a counterweight, climbing up and down the framework to the stage. As they go up or down, so do you. The trick (performed at the end of the performance by ladies somewhat more proficient and graceful than us) is to run out into the audience and as you reach the edge of the stage, up you go and fly over the front rows.

Well, first up the first ever video on my blog. Here I am proving that flying isn't always a graceful activity.

But it is quite fun. So proof that I did it!
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Getting rigged up

Yours truly safe in harness (no its not a nappy)

And now in flight

Well if pigs can fly so can I...

But maybe not too elegantly

Well, that looks reasonably graceful, all considering

Landing lights on...

Running for take-off again

and up up and away

Cat looking more than a little apprehensive despite (because of?) having seen me....

And Mary Helen rather more confidently ready for take-off

Yes I am afraid my mate Thibault was, right, it is a really rather cool experience. I suppose I could most liken it to a roller-coaster ride, without the speed.Or a seat. Anyway, it was a good laugh.

Some also tried the "lamp stand", a rather tamer trick, well at least as we did it. In the performance the moves require a fair bit of agility and strength. But just being attached thereto and hoisted into the air was easy enough.

Rachel clearly a natural at this mode of transport

And Billy went up for a ride too. Well, not every day you get to fly with a lampshade.

This way is rather harder

Group photo, cast and board members. Say cheese