Get Out of Jail Free...
Well, I was involved in three shows today. Two were on the street but one was in the high security prison here in Coimbra.
It was a strange feeling entering the prison, being searched by the guards and having all those doors locked behind you after you have passed through them.
It is all part of the Festival that is partially sponsored by the City and in return, the Festival organisers make sure that the entertainment reaches as many of the locals as possible. Hence the street shows, the hospital shows and the one in the prison. On Sunday all the street acts do their stuff in the final show on a grassed area on the edge of town when people of all ages gather from all the apartments nearby.
The prison show went really well (indeed the audience gave us a standing ovation) and you definitely felt that the reponse was much stronger than usual. In order to qualify to watch the show the inmates had to put in a sustained period of good behaviour otherwise they were banned from watching.
Mago Dabo from Argentina had a very funny spot of bother as he went into the watch steal with two volunteers! One knew nothing and his watch was duly placed secretly in the top hat on Dabo's table but when he went for the second one the "victim" felt something was up and let it be known. This brought a huge laugh from the audience, some of whom might well have been caught stealing watches themselves in their younger days!
A warm response from the audience didn't actually ease my reaction when, after the show, I learnt that one of my helpers was in there for pouring petrol over his former girlfriend and setting fire to her... scary stuff. (She survived...)
I hope there will be pictures to follow...
It was a strange feeling entering the prison, being searched by the guards and having all those doors locked behind you after you have passed through them.
It is all part of the Festival that is partially sponsored by the City and in return, the Festival organisers make sure that the entertainment reaches as many of the locals as possible. Hence the street shows, the hospital shows and the one in the prison. On Sunday all the street acts do their stuff in the final show on a grassed area on the edge of town when people of all ages gather from all the apartments nearby.
The prison show went really well (indeed the audience gave us a standing ovation) and you definitely felt that the reponse was much stronger than usual. In order to qualify to watch the show the inmates had to put in a sustained period of good behaviour otherwise they were banned from watching.
Mago Dabo from Argentina had a very funny spot of bother as he went into the watch steal with two volunteers! One knew nothing and his watch was duly placed secretly in the top hat on Dabo's table but when he went for the second one the "victim" felt something was up and let it be known. This brought a huge laugh from the audience, some of whom might well have been caught stealing watches themselves in their younger days!
A warm response from the audience didn't actually ease my reaction when, after the show, I learnt that one of my helpers was in there for pouring petrol over his former girlfriend and setting fire to her... scary stuff. (She survived...)
I hope there will be pictures to follow...
posted by JJ at 6:02 PM
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