Join us on this captivating journey into the fascinating world of live entertainment. Host Adam Sternberg brings you engaging conversations with remarkable entertainers, from magicians and jugglers to aerial artists and contortionists. Discover the unique stories behind their extraordinary careers, the challenges they’ve faced, and the motivations that drive them. If you’re passionate about live entertainment or simply curious about the lives of these extraordinary performers, this podcast is a must-listen.

Episode Highlights

In this episode, Adam welcomes circus artist, director and producer Katharine Arnold, an aerialist with two decades of experience who has performed with La Clique and Cirque du Soleil and appeared as Mary Poppins in the Olympic opening ceremony. Katharine traces her path from a Brixton childhood and early ballet training to discovering trapeze at university. She explains the decision to leave a sensible office job at Bloomberg for life on tour, the variety of company experiences from collaborative outdoor shows to large scale revue productions, and the creative process behind her own company show Sophie’s Surprise 29th Birthday Party. Katharine shares candid stories about major surgery, recovery and returning to performance, the thrill of live risk, a hilarious rigging mishap involving a cable tie and her hair, and her views on sexualisation, costume and creative freedom. We also hear about training routines, the practical differences between small cabaret shows and huge productions like Cirque du Soleil, the challenges facing the London cabaret scene, and why she believes showmanship, narrative and audience interaction matter.

Key Discussion Points

• Origins and Early Training: Born and raised in Brixton; ballet from age three; school plays and early love of music and movement.
• Discovering Circus at University: Performing arts degree at Middlesex University with a physical theatre focus; Fevered Sleep visit brought circus equipment and a first taste of trapeze.
• Adult Classes and Formal Training: Evening trapeze classes at Circus Space, now the National Centre for Circus Arts; the choice to pursue circus alongside a degree.
• Career Turning Point: Working at Bloomberg briefly for financial security then auditioning for Giffords Circus and choosing the touring, performative life.
• First Companies and Variety of Work: From Giffords to an outdoor rock and roll flying trapeze show with live music, to Berlin’s Friedrichstadt Palast revue show, illustrating the spectrum from collaborative creation to highly directed large-scale productions.
• Working with Major Companies: Reflections on Cirque du Soleil as aspirational and legitimising; differences between being in original creative casts and joining established productions.
• Creating Sophie’s Surprise 29th Birthday Party: The concept of an immersive, comedic ensemble show where one audience member becomes Sophie; influences from Punchdrunk and late 90s, early 2000s pop culture; audience games, karaoke and direct interaction.
• Choreography and Music First Process: Katharine describes how music often drives her choreographic choices and how she builds acts around musicality.
• Act Construction and Subversion: Examples include the plastic surgery parody act that unexpectedly morphs into a moving hoop piece set to a Postmodern Jukebox cover of Creep.
• Injury and Recovery: Open account of major abdominal surgery during the pandemic to remove a tumour and the long rehabilitation that followed, plus the emotional impact of thinking performance might be over.
• Training and Maintenance: The difference between building strength as a beginner and maintaining show fitness during contracts; the importance of loving training.
• Live Performance Risks and Technology: Why live shows have more frisson than recorded work; preference for manual human lifting systems over motors because of tech failures.
• Height, Trust and Rigging: Comfort with heights combined with healthy respect; the duet-like relationship between performer and lifter when being lifted by another person.
• Anecdote: The Cable Tie Mishap: A cable tie snagged Katharine’s hair into a swivel during a hoop act, leaving her stuck at height until colleagues brought her down and unclipped her, turning a scary moment into a memorable live story.
• Costume, Character and Ageing in Performance: Shift from glam lycra to character-driven acts and conceptual costumes, such as an aerial Zimmer frame, Queen of England parody and a blow-up corgi prop.
• Industry Changes and Funding Challenges: Observations on fewer cabaret-hiring venues since 2016, the effects of the pandemic and cost of living on audiences, and how UK funding lags behind countries such as France, Canada and Australia.
• Creating a British Circus Company: Motivation to establish a high-quality British company; the realities of self-funding and building sustainable work.
• Advice for Aspiring Performers: Be prepared for hard work and obsession, love training, immerse yourself in the world, and understand the industry is harder now than a decade ago.
• Lockdown Pivot and Teaching: Rehabilitation led to teaching, directing and continued creative work; notes on the ongoing importance of choreographing, directing and community.
• Audience Interaction and Improvisation: How undercutting expectations, mixing comedy with emotion and letting imperfections show can make live entertainment more memorable.

Katharine demonstrates the importance of core strength with an exercise of getting up from the floor without using your hands. More difficult than it sounds!

Get in Touch

For more on Katharine Arnold, visit:

👉https://www.instagram.com/katharinearnold

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🎵 Original title music written by Peter O'Donnell and produced by Chris Burgess.

Join Adam Sternberg next time for another captivating glimpse into the world of live entertainment.