The show carried on, with an eclectic mix of music from opera to hip-hop to ballet, dance-orientated as was the whole show - dancing with juggling thrown in (literally) for good measure. As I say, synchronised, with arms weaving within the juggling envelope, funny as various members of the group tried to disrupt the feats of their fellow jugglers, undermining their skills. Some real showpieces (always ruined in some way) were shown by individual jugglers, sometimes with evident annoyance. Towards the end, things started to descend into chaos. Crockery was introduced and the title of the show became evident - it got pretty messy as ceramics smashed and apples were pulped and chewed into submission. Maybe all a bit much at that point as the stage was covered with apple mush and ceramic shards but it resolved as the original tune and sequence brought everything back to order - except the stage. It was a great show with energy and fun plus real skill. Maybe the juggling fraternity would frown and suggest that what they did was fairly basic juggling but the synchronisation, speed and ease made it very special and enjoyable for me.
After that I headed up to the gorgeous Spiegeltent to see Le Gateau Chocolat accompanied by the fabulous Jonny Woo performing on of their shows for musical theatre and cabaret fans A Night at the Musicals. They were in Norwich last year but I didn't see them so I was curious. Again, I was a bit wary of the 'same-old, same-old' drag cabaret but these two had it nailed from the start. The mechanism of musical theatre worked well as a way fo getting the audience onside, and the sheer ridiculous vision of Le Gateau Chocolat, a six-foot-something Nigerian with a huge and slightly grizzled beard, an enormous sideways wig, and a curvy but not exactly svelt figure taking the stage and the microphone was a vision to behold. In fact, I was gone by the time the long-lashed swooping lights swept the stage in an over-exaggerated flash of glamour.
Jonny Woo, a complete contrast, skinny but muscly, fine boned, equally tall, first appeared as Darth Vader and then as the more dowdy (not exactly dull though) foil to the prancing, flouncing Gateau. They were slick, funny, risqué and probably a shock to the system for many of the audience - a packed house who rose fully to the challenge of sing-a-long musicals. More at the Spiegeltent all next week and over the weekend so snap up any tickets there are. It was good to see a packed Playhouse and Spiegeltent with Norwich making the most of the opportunity.
Addendum: we then retired to the buzzy Festival bar where we chatted to friends until it was too late to get the car out of the car park (ginger beer in case you were wondering!)
Here's a YouTube clip of an outdoor version of the show with more people, audience and performers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oC0_bhsxamo