There have been some terrible ideas conceived in Temple Bar… as well as some terrible people. From drunken stumbles towards Lapellos to sober ones towards Club M, what seemed like a good idea at the time generally seems moronic in the headache-inducing light of day. Brighter were the light bulbs that appeared above the heads of Mark Dukenfield and Conor McCarthy early one May morn when, while arsing around Temple Bar, they stumbled upon a group of acrobats surrounded by a huge crowd.
“Everyone loved it,” McCarthy tells me. “Businessmen, young mothers, kids. It was an excellent form of entertainment… but why wasn’t there more of it? We started looking around, seeing what else was out there and realized these acts did exist but had no platform for big performances. So we figured we’d do something about it.”
And so the AIB Street Performance World Championship was born. Entering its fourth year it takes place in Merrion Square Thursday June 18th to Sunday June 21st.
Conor McCarthy sat down with us to tell us a little about what’s going on.
Are you a street performer yourself?
God no. I studied computer science in Trinity. It was quite the career change. We weren’t performers; we weren’t business people so we had to learn quickly. We built it bit by bit and understand every part of it now as we go forward. We started working out of Mark’s kitchen in Walkinstown and when we realized this was a goer we got a small office. That’s when we both left our jobs, went for it full time.
Do you do other events as well?
Just the festival itself. We had the idea that we’d tour it, and this year that’s happening, with the show in Cork. We set up an agency so we can represent these guys in Ireland as well. A lot of the performers don’t come here. They don’t think there is a market for what they do. We set up an agency so people would know about them and could use them at private events like Christmas parties and product launches.
How do you select who performs at the festival?
We travel to festivals to see acts first hand. In the past we booked them off of their promotional DVD and it hasn’t quite worked out because a DVD can be edited cleverly to make an act look amazing. We only go if we have an act we want to see; the bonus being that you come across acts you’ve never heard of and they’re better.
We get inundated with acts that want to come to Ireland because the festival has a really good name.
Who’s the must-see act this year?
My favorite is Rob Williams whose show is based around him making and feeding you a baloney sandwich… with his feet. It’s a whole process. Washing his feet, preparing the ingredients, making the sandwich and finally feeding it to them.
Is there much local talent taking part?
To be honest, compared to other countries, where there are circus schools, there isn’t a huge amount of acts. If there was more of a culture here I think we’d be able to get more. But we do all right.
Is there a prize giving ceremony?
There is a prize giving ceremony on the Sunday evening. It’s a specially hand crafted wooden hat, because the hat is how these guys make a living. So we went out and made them something iconic. The winner is chosen by public vote. We give out 100, 000 brochures every year so when you come along to the festival and you see an act you like you tick a box, tear out the page and stick it in the box.
For more details on the AIB Street Performance World Championship 2009 log on to www.spwc.ie
Caomhan Keane
