LONDON GRILLING: Isis Clegg-Vinell & Nathan Price, Duo Roller Skating
Join us as we delve into the fascinating world of roller skating and circus artistry with the dynamic duo, Isis Clegg-Vinell & Nathan Price. From their surprising beginnings in inline hockey to their mesmerising performances on stage, this London Grilling promises to be a rollercoaster of excitement and inspiration. Read on to discover their secrets to success, their thrilling adventures, and the magic behind their upcoming debut at Sophie’s Surprise 29th at Underbelly Boulevard.
Could you share with us how you first got started in the world of roller skating and circus performance?
Strangely enough we both played inline hockey as children which is a very, very niche sport in the UK. Years before we met at circus school we actually played in the same hockey league when we were twelve! But we didn’t really do anything with it until 2017 when Cirque du Soleil were making their first ice skating show and were looking for acrobats who knew how to skate. We got hired for that - a show that was half acrobats and half skaters from all sorts of different disciplines. The pairs ice skaters there were incredible, and they would show us all these cool tricks from their world and we’d share things from our world. We were doing a bunch of Hand to Hand on ice, and learning all these traditional skating lifts and spins.
When we left in 2018 we thought ‘that wasn’t so hard, we should make a roller skating act’. I was living in Chicago at the time, and saw an advert on a bus stop for Teatro ZinZanni. This was when they were first opening in Chicago, and I thought ‘they look cool, I should email them’. I’ve sent 100s of emails in our career to various shows without hearing anything back so I didn’t expect much. But, the next day I got a reply saying they loved our stuff and whether we could meet. They just happened to also be in Chicago and so we went and got coffee the next day.
At this point, we hadn’t yet started training the roller skate act. But because of how fast we learnt on ice, we were confident we’d have it down in no time. So, I told them that as well as doing H2H we could do a roller skating act as well. They loved the idea and we very quickly were contracted and hired for our first season in Seattle in 2019/2020. Eventually we went back to London and started training the roller skate act. Now, here’s the thing. On ice there is very little friction, because; you know, it’s ice. So you didn’t really have to work too hard, you would just kind of glide. But wheels on wood? Hard. Work.
We ended up not having as much time to train as we thought, and it took us longer to adapt from ice to wheels and so by the time we got to America we were good, but not great. But having to do it everyday on stage, on a tiny little elevated platform makes you get better at it very quickly. So how did we get good at skates? A combination of over promising & over confidence, and having no other choice. One thing it did mean, is that we ended up with a pretty unique skating act. Normally skate acts are “we go around and around in a circle, very fast and we’re very cool”. Us not being very fast (or very cool) meant we had to find another edge to our act to make it entertaining. And we leaned into a more characterful & comedic act to make up for our lack of speed and cool-ness. But now we’re able to rip it and are pretty snappy on the wheels (unfortunately not much cooler) but we’ve kept the funny characters, and the playfulness from that first season in America with Teatro Zinzanni and now have a pretty unique style.
You've had a long partnership, working together for over a decade. What do you think is the key to maintaining a successful collaboration in the circus world?
Stubbornness. You’re constantly facing challenges and difficulties in circus, as a soloist or as a duo, whether it be; a trick not working like it should, an injury setting you back or just the other person annoying the bejeezus out of you. Each one of those problems is solved with an unwavering and immoveable stubbornness.
We’ve been working together for 15 years now, and in that time we’ve gone through periods of hating each other, being very neutral and polite but not necessarily friends, to where we are now where we’re great friends and have a (fairly) smooth & functional working relationship. That still doesn’t stop Katharine referring to us as ‘The Dysfunctional Duo’ every now and again.
What inspired the creation of your new act, Trio Vertex, and how did it feel to represent the UK at Young Stage and win multiple prizes?
When the pandemic hit we were stuck in London, eventually things opened a little more and we were allowed to train again. As long as we did it in what England called ‘bubbles’, which was allowed to be people from 2 different households. So the three of us would train together. Cornelius and Isis on trapeze, so he could stay in shape for the eventual return of the show he was on when the Pandemic struck (‘Crystal’, Cirque du Soleil - which is where we all met) and Isis and I would train Hand to Hand. We found the ‘spare’ guy lifting or helping out the pair that was training and naturally started forming interesting things across both disciplines. I also had a couple of leftover trick ideas from the H2T creation on Crystal and one day I said ‘hey guys. I have an idea. Can we try it?’. There are no words more worrying for a flyer than a porter saying ‘I have an idea’, because it typically means someone’s about to try and do something very insane with you. And insane it was. We spent the next couple of months trying tricks and experimenting with things that had, as far as we know, never been done before. Which in such a longstanding art form as circus, means it’s very rare to break new ground.
Going to Young Stage was such a highlight, the festival itself is incredibly well organised and the team there is so welcoming and friendly. Then to win the awards and prizes we did was really the icing on the cake. We tried to go in with no expectations and just present the culmination of 12 weeks worth of training, research and rehearsal for that act. It was really special. I think it’s so easy to lose the forest for the trees when you’re working so intensely on something, and to think ‘is this thing we’re doing really that interesting?’. Working on it 6+ hours a day you sort of become numb to the novelty or the beauty of it, so winning the Gold Star and Audience Prize at Young Stage was this wonderfully validating thing where it was like ‘Ah yeah, this thing IS actually that interesting’.
As performers with extensive experience in the circus and cabaret world, what excites you most about the upcoming debut of Sophie's Surprise 29th at Underbelly Boulevard?
That there’s not a show like it! We really forged our own weird little immersive, narrative, chaotic, comedic, high-skilled genre. It’s a bit of a cliché, but audiences will really have never seen anything like it.
It’s also so exciting to be doing it in London! We’re both from here, and got our start in the London cabaret scene so to be bringing our own show to the heart of Soho is such a phenomenal feeling.
With such a diverse range of performers involved, how do you anticipate the audience's reaction to Sophie's Surprise 29th, and what do you hope they will take away from the experience?
I just want people to have a good time. The show first-and-foremost is entertaining. It’s a get together with your mates and a bevvy kind of show. We were blown away by the response when we did it in Edinburgh, there’s so much in the show that there’s something for everyone. It’s also such a uniquely British show in a way that I don’t think anyone’s really seen before. The soundtrack is METICULOUSLY curated with some of the biggest, best bangers from the late 90’s to the 2010’s. So as well as getting smacked in the face with all these crazy circus skills, you’re also getting these waves of nostalgia as well. I love that feeling of hearing a long-forgotten-favourite song, and you see that wave of realisation wash over the audience.
Could you share any insights into your preparations for the show and how your acts will contribute to the overall atmosphere of Sophie's Surprise 29th?
Skates and Hand to Trapeze are both kind of big, danger acts. So we really supply the adrenaline. Especially for that front row in skates! Boulevard is a wonderfully intimate space, and so that first row is gonna be feeling the wind whip by. I would say they’ll be on the edge of their seats, but that might be too close to the action for their own good! So hopefully they’re able to sit back a little and stay out of the danger zone.
What unique elements do you bring to the production, and how do you think they will resonate with the audience?
I don’t want to spoil anything, but our Skates act is pretty unique in a couple of ways. We do a trick with a WKD bottle that I don’t think anyone else has done before. Then on top of that, the tone of the act is incredibly unique, as we integrate these weirdly hilarious meta, self referential, fourth wall breaks into the act. It’s rare to see a funny skate act, normally they’re just going round and round really fast being cool. Instead, we go round and round really fast being funny.
The style and tone of comedy in the show is incredibly British. The British sense of humour is so distinctive in the world. Having spent so much time in the US doing shows, and doing comedy in them, it really hit home just how unique that British sense of humour is.
What advice would you give to aspiring circus performers who are looking to break into the industry in London?
Train! And make stuff. Make acts even if you’re not going to use them. Part of being a good circus performer is being able to use circus as a vehicle for something else. To tell a story, convey an emotion or tell a joke. Being able to do that means you need to be really solid technically in whatever discipline you’re doing. You can’t make a trick more than a trick if you’re not 100% confident in it.
Lastly, what message would you like to convey to potential audience members who are eagerly anticipating the debut of Sophie's Surprise 29th?
That it’s really, really, really entertaining. The whole thing is a party. We’re just here to have a good time. Remember how much fun you had as a teen-something going to random house parties? It’s that but with circus tricks.
BOOKING INFO FOR SOPHIE’S SURPRISE 29TH:
11th April-28th June
Various times, 90 mins including interval
Underbelly Boulevard
Prices from £25.00
