Hide When You See A Street Performer

Roger has the kind of face that stands out to street performers. He can lurk at the back of the crowd, blending in with hordes of passersby and gawkers, and still get picked to help the performer by holding things, standing there, and generally being a prop and causing everyone in the audience to be glad that he was picked instead of them.

Today was no exception. Recovered after our tunnel exertions, we headed into town and wandered along Hutt St which was meant to have a 'vibe' but hadn't quite gotten its vibe on so early in the evening. We dined on burritos served painfully slowly by two 17 year olds who were busy flirting awkwardly with their fellow teenage customers, and sat to watch the street come to life as the evening deepened to night. Down on the corner a crowd watched a girl swallow a sword, which she did with a maximum of hype and a minimum of fuss.

Every night the street is closed to traffic and crowds of people come out to mingle and eat on their way to Fringe events in the parklands.

I liked their hair.

 

We stopped to watch a young drummer beat out expert rhythms on Bunnings buckets.

 

We joined the crowd gathering around Circus Patrick, where Roger happily blended into the throng while Circus Patrick ran around very expertly throwing fire sticks hither and thither and keeping everyone entertained with a nice line of patter.

 

All of a sudden Circus Patrick decided he needed a volunteer, and before you could say "Quick! Hide behind that fat man!" he had Roger out there getting instructions and holding things.

Like unicycles.

 

And fire sticks

Don't even think about swallowing that!

 

And roses,

He looked a little nervous...

What?

Patrick ran around cracking whips rather too close to Roger's fingers for Roger's comfort, but to give him credit he stood as still as could be and allowed Patrick to perform rose decapitation with a whip.

And crack! The rose fell and Roger still had eight fingers and two thumbs, all in working order.

 

And then he was asked to put the rose in his mouth, which he did with fear and trembling, placing an inordinate amount of trust in a man who had already demonstrated a disturbing tendency to do dangerous things.

Do you trust me?  Hold still now...

 

The whip cracked, the rose fell, the crowd roared, and Roger still had his nose. 

But that wasn't the end of it, now he had to throw machetes up to Patrick, who wobbled to and fro on a very tall unicycle.

Roger threw, Patrick caught the correct end, and everyone was happy.

 

Roger took a bow and took himself off very quickly in case Patrick changed his mind and wanted another volunteer.   We rushed off into the dark because we were running late for the show to which we had booked tickets and in which Roger made sure to find someone tall to hide behind, just in case.

I wasn't allowed to take pictures in the paid-for show, so you'll have to take my word that it was a suitably entertaining mix of magic, risque jokes (but still suitable for minors), general abuse of mobile phones in blenders (with magical recoveries) and all-round good entertainment. We went home tired and happy, thoroughly entertained, and planning to bring a disguise for Roger next time we stop to watch a street performer.

Gratuitous beautiful old house from the walk back to the car.