Oral Histories : Ali Williams

Open House at the Peterborough Arts Festival



The Peterborough Arts Festival is a three day event that has a variety of different acts and performers. The city centre was a riot of colour and high energy as No Fit State Circus revealed their carnival of fun, Open House. Flowing through Cathedral Square were an explosion of deck chairs, flags, umbrellas as a swarm of musicians, acrobats and aerialists fly out of caravans to create a joyous menagerie of circus chaos! Here are the highlights of the 100 minute show.

Oral Histories

Ali Williams interviewed by Sophie and Paddy

"Getting to Indian Customs and they held onto our equipment  for 5 days and I had a full company of performers that were supposed to be getting a rehearsal together but they couldn't rehouse because all the rigging was in customs

and they wouldn't let us have them because they had to be picked up by a company because it was cargo and I had to re-register the boxes as personal possessions so We spent a morning at the airport with me and the festival organisers bribing different people with Bakshish to get to the head customs officer

And he stood in front of me and said 'So all this equipment is your personal equipment and I was like yes and he said good cause otherwise you're not allowed it because you know it has to be yours'

'we are now going to open the boxes and we are going to have a look at whats in them and we are going to ask some questions about them

So he looked at me so are you a trapeze artist and I am actually Britains best circus performer and British Council have paid for me to come and do my show and that's why I've got my trapezes

So why have you got three trapezes?

I've got three trapezes different heights so I've got a low trapeze and a medium trapeze and a high trapeze and a what you… listeners won't understand is that its pretty unlikely that I am a trapeze artist

So he asked me to demonstrate how to climb a rope so I got a rope out of the box it wasn't attached to anything and it was very easy to demonstrate how to er...
so he said 'okay fine fine'

and he opened the next box and there three saxophones and I was like I hope he's not going to ask me to play the saxophone
'so these saxophones your saxophones'
I was like yes they're my saxaphones
'can you play the saxophone'
Yes I can play the saxophone
And he said but why have you got three saxophones you've only got one mouth
Things is I play the big saxophone on the low trapeze and the medium size saxophone on the medium trapeze and the small saxophone on the high trapeze
and thats why I need three saxophones

and I was like wow, this is going really well we're managing to fob him off

and then he gets to the third box and he opens it and theres like 20 pairs of shoes and all the costumes that belong to all the performers

and he holds up a little tiny blue dress which belongs to Shaina, whose quite skinny compared to me
I don't think you'd fit into that dress
and I say the thing is you don't understand I've got 20 Indians and I've had to bring all the cloths for them I'm doing workshops as well and

so eventually he went okay fine

we managed to with a load of complete lies persuade him to sign

and he said to me we just need one more signature
and I said well whose signature is it and he said mine
and I was like what are wee talking about just sign the papers
He said I'm sorry it's one minute past twelve and I'm on lunch until 1 o'clock, come back then and I'll sign the paper"