Venardos Circus came back to Livermore this year and we took in a show before leaving on our road trip. However, before the night was out, I found myself on stage performing with the show for about 10 minutes–with all instructions communicated to me through pantomime. I was a bit nervous, but it went well.
Thinking about it academically, using audience members for a such a long bit is a pretty big risk for the performer. He has to communicate his intentions to us while entertaining the audience, roll with whatever we happen to do, and trust in our willingness to play along. I’m really impressed with his ability to convey to us what he wanted in the way he did.
Anyway, he pulled me from my seat to make muscle poses juxtaposed with the brawnier guy he grabbed. Alright, skinny guy–brawny guy some silly poses and sound effects. That’s fine. But when I thought he was done with us he drags us onto the stage and has us engage in a pantomime pistol duel.
Jess started recording as I was getting dragged on stage after the muscle silliness. Her phone somehow choked towards the end and corrupted the video, but I was able to recover most of the performance.
Some pictures from the night with a couple stills grabbed from the video. And, after my participation, I had to get a group picture with the team.
