.jpeg?width=1200&auto=webp&crop=3%3A2)
Sabrage is currently ripping it up at the Lafayette in King’s Cross, a night of cabaret, hedonism and spectacular circus performances that is bringing Londoners together in inclusive delight.
Yet while the carnival of delights on display seem effortlessly fun, and the performers seemingly a debauched bunch of reprobates, the reality is that the acrobatic people up on the stage are as dedicated as any athlete. They have to be! Not least foot juggler Emma Phillips, who is incredibly glamorous on stage but actually having to do some serious, specialised work up there which has taken a lifetime to perfect.
.jpeg)
“I'm from a small town in New Zealand, but when I saw Cirque du Soleil, that just sort of sparked something inside me,” she says, “M dream was to work in Europe. I really dedicated myself from when I was 15 and ended up in China for nearly 3 years where I did my formal training in foot juggling. Since then, I've been traveling the world working internationally.”
Now the training in foot juggling in China was not some frivolous thing, it was a rigorous school she attended since the acrobats had the potential to support their families for years if they could achieve, which meant extreme pressure and scrutiny. They were amazed that she had gone there on her own without her parents.
“The teachers took it very seriously, they were incredibly strict,” she says, “It was very hard psychologically, physically, and emotionally, but because it pushed me to my absolute limits, it created a really strong sort of work ethic and self-discipline. That was really drilled it into me.”
And the results of this drilling is an act that is unforgettable. Combining power and skill, honed in the years since her education in China, Phillips juggles parasols and a heavy table with her feet while she lies on her back. This is not easy.
“What I created is very unique,” she says, “I juggle the Chinese parasols in the act, which is very delicate and almost balletic in a sense. And then I juggle a solid wooden table, which is nearly 10 kg, a very heavy table that is just about pure strength and adrenaline.
Traditionally, you don't learn the heavy and the light with juggling equipment. My trainers were saying, no one does that. I took that as my point of difference, I wanted to do something no one else was doing. That’s been my real selling point and kept me really unique.”
This determined, single-minded approach has allowed her to perform all around the world over the last ten years. And it applies to every element of her performance.
“I make my costumes, I make my props, I make everything,” she says, “My act is really like a piece of me on stage. It's really from the heart, it’s his collection of my ideas and my dreams.”
But again, in order to really bring those ideas and dreams to life on stage, there is immense detail and discipline behind it, and total awareness of her body.
“I find the umbrellas are very different to the table, it's a lot more about fine twitch muscle, so there's a lot of room for error,” she says, “I can just have the tiniest little sore muscle in my leg, or maybe I walked a bit too much that day, or maybe the temperature changed today - but I can feel it. It's very, very particular.
Then the table is heavy. My goodness, when we do double show days, I am trying to find that energy and that strength. Because you have to give 100 per cent. 99 per cent won’t work. You can’t be like, Oh, today I'm a bit tired. And for the audience, I always want them to see me at 100. I don't want them to see me on a day that I'm not giving it everything.”
She joined Sabrage when its creator Scott Maidment - who has collaborated with Madonna in the past - approached her about it. She has worked with him in the past and says they just clicked, but for this show it was about bringing in new people and creating something fresh: “the comedy has been an element we have really developed.”
Indeed the show has built a reputation as one of the most fun and interactive in town. Turn up early for a drink at the hidden speakeasy bar at the venue called Nola’s, and you’ll mingle with the cast; same if you stick around after, though you’ll find them. drinking sparkling water not post-show shots.
“The second you walk through the door it’s a whole new world,” she says, “We don’t want them coming in ten minutes before the show we want them coming along an hour and a half. There is a beautiful energy and we want people to leave the troubled world behind. You’re not going to look at your phone, you’re not going to sit in a corner and have a cocktail. We want pure enjoyment.”
This kind of engaging has created some funny moments during Emma’s performance: I'm very close to the audience, and I can hear them. There are moments in my act when the music goes really quiet, there’s a lot of suspense. And sometimes you hear the best things. The audience is silent, then someone's just lets out a profanity. It's just because they've never seen anything like this, so it just comes out. I love those moments.”
.jpeg)
Speaking to Phillips you do really get a sense of something heartfelt going on. She confesses she has struggled with confidence issues in the past and has had to work hard to overcome nerves. This is something she thinks is linked to that traumatic training in China, but also a product of her single-minded determination, which left her without a support system; “I took it all on myself...it was like I had a shadow the whole time.”
She’s been working with a coach to solve this and says this has mostly been about mindset and learning that, “aiming for perfection isn’t everything, we’re human.”
And this human approach is what is bringing people back to Sabrage again and again. It’s one which is about celebrating different bodies, different sexualities, being cheeky with it, outright rude sometimes, but always in an understanding that in a difficult world we should remember to all gather together and have fun.
“We want to create an inclusive, diverse environment,” she says, “So much of art comes from queer art, the makeup, the costume, the style, the music, there’s so much influence. We’ve had straight cis men in the audience watching something that probably wasn't what they usually would watch, and they were loving it.
We're not forcing anything, this is art, this is creation, this is fun, and it comes from so many different avenues and inspirations, and all of us have different backgrounds and different lives. I think that's really important.”
Sabrage is on now at Lafayette, King’s Cross.
