ONLY FOOLS LAUGH OVER NOTHING

Taupo Times, Volume 20, Issue 3, 14 January 1971, Page 9

ONLY FOOLS LAUGH OVER NOTHING

The whole world knows the saying, "Only fools laugh over nothing", and it seems that because of it people are wary of giving way in public to that most natural and pleasant of human feelings — laughter. This is what Konstantin Vasilyev and Anatoli Vekshin must have wracked their brains over before becoming clowns. The beginning of the circus career of these two, now touring New Zealand with the Moscow State Circus, went into bridging the gap between the almost similar expressions "I want to be a clown" and "I can be a clown." Balancing, acrobatics, juggling — all these skills obligatory in the circus became the "rough copy" of their art. It was not by chance that Konstantin Vasilyev worked several seasons at the start of his career with a group of gymnasts on the horizontal bars, and Anatoli Vekshin, while attending a circus school, finished a course in music. And all this only to make people laugh. FEATURED In the billing of any circus show, the clowns are speciafly featured. Y ou can do without trained bears, bare-back horse riding, high-wire acts — but clowns are a must. A string of gags and slapstick must keep the audience smiling throughout the programme, and while the acts may look inevitable to the audience they in fact entail a great amount of work. The clowns' dressing-room is right beside the main entrance into the ring. It has to be because the job of the

clown requires frequent and quick costume changes to suit his varioqs characters. In the ring this pair use their real names — Kostya and Tolya. Despite their traditional, almost classic, clown make-up, they act out in the ring the most common everyday happenings — familiar to almost every person in the audience — but treated with laughter and humour. THROUGHOUT Unlike any other performers, Konstantin and Anatoly are in the ring throughout the show. They appear from the wings, sure that they are impatiently awaited. Kostya awkwardly rides a dilapidated bicycle, and Tolya goes tearing along on a small toy motor-cycle. An explosion! And their first joint appearance turns into a cascade of falls, setting the mood for their programme of slap-stick humour which appeals to something deep down in, surely, all of us.