PREVIEW - Circus Geeks, Udderbelly Festival

TAKE three jugglers, some chairs, a tea bag, graphs, statistics and even some fish and what do you have? Circus Geeks and their new show Beta Testing.

The threesome – Matt Pang, John Udry and Aaron Sparks – will be bringing the show to the Udderbelly stage later this month where they aim to wow audiences with their incredible tricks and share their obsession with throwing and catching.

Funny, geeky and smart, Beta Testing aims to lift the lid on life as a juggler and give an insight into how the tricks are learnt by mixing music, theatre, comedy with circus skills and a bit of maths thrown in for good measure.

“It’s a bit difficult to describe us and our act,” says Aaron cheerfully.

“We always mix elements of comedy and visuals to create our shows and this will be no different. So the audience can expect something unusual and hopefully it will be unlike anything they have ever seen before.

“We juggle a lot of different stuff – some of it everyday items including things like chairs, tea bags, mugs and there is even a scene involving fish – but don’t worry – you don’t need to get the animal welfare police!” he laughs.

Aaron admits it’s not an easy art to master – not least using chairs which are unwieldy – but he says making mistakes is part of the fun and especially so in Beta Testing.

“Juggling is risky and sometimes things do go wrong,” he says. “In this show we go through the probabilities of mistakes happening and how likely it is that we will perform the tricks successfully.

“It’s quite a geeky and nerdy show – as part of the act, we use a lot of graphs and stats to show how we are getting on – charting our successes and failures.

“One of the most exciting elements is when things go wrong – then it’s a question of how you deal with it. It makes it fun for the audience too.”

As well as all the fun and trickery, during the show the trio explore what it’s like to be a juggler with a bit of a history of how they got together.

“I was really into the yoyo craze when I was younger and that developed into juggling,” says Aaron. “Juggling is quite labour intensive – it takes hours of practice, between two and six hours every day, six days a week.

“But it’s great fun and when I met Matt and John we decided to get together as Circus Geeks.”

“We can’t wait to come to the Udderbelly Festival,” he adds. “It’s such a fantastic venue.

“I have been to see things there in previous years. What’s great about it is that it’s all sorts of different shows and performances so we’ll fit right in!”

Circus Geeks Beta Testing is on at the Udderbelly Festival between May 26 and June 21. Tickets cost £13.50. Visit www.udderbelly.co.uk or call the box office on 0844 545 8252.