“The midget Tom Thumb, a really little person; he was a mega-millionaire. It was the popular entertainment of the day,” explained Shep Huntly, performer and creator of Harvest Arts and Music Festival’s The League of Sideshow Superstars. “So I have to, and our crew have to, take inspiration from the traveling freak shows of the 1860s – 1930s. Barnum was a really big part of popularising freak shows in America, so we take our inspiration from that era and those people.”
The League of Sideshow Superstars is Huntly’s brainchild. It’s a show that blends cabaret, acrobatics, performance, theatre, music and a plethora of other idiosyncrasies into a delightful blend of tricks and stunts. The troupe made their debut at the Melbourne Fringe Festival back in 2005 performing to just over 800 people, frequenting it for the next five years.
The League, as they’re often called, are regulars at the Adelaide and Brisbane Royal Shows, as well as The Sydney Easter Show where they call themselves The Psycho Sideshow. The troupe’s fascination with freak shows, including devilish stunts and sword-swallowing techniques, has been the attention of Australians for years now, a flattery to the aficionados.
“I’m into extreme performance art. I want to make the best shows that I can and perform them to the biggest crowds that I can. What my motivation is – [it’s] pretty hard to put your finger on; it’s wanting to be the best you can be I suppose,” pondered Huntly deeply from his home in Byron Bay. It may only be ten in the morning but the father and showman has already packed his daughter off to playgroup, replied to some emails and bottled some home brew, a hobby of his.
“If I was going a gig in Melbourne, I’d probably just take a couple [home brews] along with me and have them backstage,” admitted the circus aficionado, who’s been brewing for a few years now. “It’s been a long time since I’ve spent any money on commercial beer. It’s great.”
When Huntly isn’t busy being a father or brewing his own concoctions, he is musing about what new features he can add to his shows. In an industry that is dependent on the number of shows done, the entertainer is adamant on producing fresh, exciting material all the time.
“In my game you’ve always got to have a few projects on the go. There’s only a certain amount of festivals, there’s only a certain amount of work, so you have to keep creating new shows so you can keep going back to places,” stressed Huntly, elaborating that if he thinks an idea is “awesome” enough, then he’ll build the props to make it happen.
This ethos extended to The Dark Party, a collaboration with fellow mates Gordo and Pat constructed around punk rock debauchery filled with car batteries, saws and other dangerous utensils. Where The League of Sideshow Superstars lacks car batteries it makes up with small places, fire and The Great Gordo Gamsby’s sword swallowing.
With such an array of elitists, one cannot help wonder where Huntly meets these people, but he explained, “The family’s pretty much involved.” His wife is a circus aerialist and his daughter has done acrobatic tricks in his shows before. This immersion into the community is what reinforces Huntly’s thorough knowledge of sideshow performance, including how he met his troupe, best mates The Great Gordo Gamsby and Sideshow Pat, and the escapist artist Lilikoi Kaos.
“The troupe I’m working with now we all just met at gigs. The girl in the show is a second generation circus girl who I’ve know since she was about five years old,” explained Huntly, iterating that troupe formations are entirely organic. “I’ve watched her train really hard, go through all the junior circus stuff, and grow into this really cool woman who is just really good at what she does because she’s been training at it since she was a little girl. The last guy, our sword swallower; he just appeared on the scene, at gigs and festivals and stuff. Once I invited him on stage with me and I thought: ‘That guy’s a keeper, I want to work with him more’. There’s no way we could do auditions for this. The people who are into what you’re into, they all sort of gravitate towards each other.”
It’s this natural process that allows Huntly to create fresh shows. Every member has an opinion within the troupe, whether it be their costume, music or performance within the postmodern show. The League has received positive reception in the past, an aim that the showman insisted the rest troupe want.
“It’s really simple, we just want them to have a really good time,” said Huntly, emphasising how important entertaining is to the group. “I want them to be excited, maybe inspired; I want them to just have a really good time and watch some really cool stuff.”
Even if that’s watching a man swallow swords.
BY AVRILLE BYLOK-COLLARD
