SUMMER is a busy time for festivals down the country. The small ones might just want us to get them one entertainer, like a fire juggler. Others might want the whole shebang, from tightrope walkers to lambada dancers and bellydancers. People usually want something visual and exciting.
We're always on the look out for new performers even though we already have hundreds on our books. You have to make sure they're professional: that they'll do what they say they'll do and arrive on time. We watch them perform before we decide to take them on. Sometimes they aren't good enough. But I'vealso walked up to people on Grafton Street and asked them for their phone number. The performers we work with are very individual and great fun. They are one step outside the mainstream - the dreamers of society. I also get to meet more ordinary people who organise local festivals, like housewives and businessmen. Sometimes we're asked to provide entertainers at very short notice. A festival will ring saying they've been let down and can we send them some extra performers to "oomph" the festival. One night at 11 p.m. we got a call asking for 10 town criers for a photocall the following day. We got them.
Then there was the day we were asked to provide a giant phone for another photocall. They needed it that same morning. Luckily we were able to borrow one at short notice. We have one performer called the Great Gambini - Derek - he's great. There was the day we needed trained doves at very short notice and he provided them. The event was in the arcade off Henry Street, and one dove flew up into the rafters and wouldn't come down. We had to wait until 10 p.m. for it to come down.
We all get involved in making up games for clients. You have to keep coming up with new ideas. One very popular game is Splatoon. It is a paintball game for two teams. You wear overalls and shoot each other with paint guns. This sort of game and It's a Knockout-type games are popular with companies. The water games are perfect for summer - they'd be too cold in the winter. We can do the sumo wrestling indoors or outdoors. For sumo wrestling and gladiator jousting, we provide the equipment and the peopleto run it. They are designed in such a way that the people who use them won't be hurt. Of course we have insurance too. People can get a bit excited and jump on while still wearing their shoes and then burst the equipment. We don't let people use the equipment if they're drunk. The sumo suits are totally padded and the wigs double as helmets. One time there was an older man who was putting on his sumo suit. There was a helper with him. The helper said: "Take off your shoes". The man said: "Here, take these". The helper put out his hand without really looking. He was expecting the man's shoes. Instead the guy handed him his false teeth!
In conversation with Katie Donovan
