Boston Street Theater

As spring starts to roll in and the weather starts to get warmer, Boston finds a way to transform itself into a more interesting and/or exciting place to be after a brutal winter such as this past one. I was able to experience Boston last week in a way I haven't been able to in a while. On a very ordinary Thursday morning, I decided to take myself and my camera into the city for no other reason except that I had nothing to do. It turned out to be a good decision.

Now, as I walked through Government Center towards Quincy Market, I started to hear some cheering. Naturally, I became curious and started to make my way to the source of the sound. The crowd was starting to get large so I started moving a little quicker and luckily got a spot in the front with a nice view. These two guys, who I later found out to be circus performers (ironically not part of the Big Apple Circus that happened to be in town at Government Center), were already into their act by the time I got there. Camera out and ready, this was the first shot I got of their street performance. Looks like a very simple pose for two people described as circus performers. However, this pose was achieved after landing a back flip on top of the other man's shoulders. Quite an impressive maneuver! As you might be able to tell from the faces of the people in the crowd, they were quite entertaining to watch. What you cannot see in this photo is the young boy that volunteered from the crowd. He is out of frame to the left holding juggling swords. After being instructed by the two men to pick up the swords and bring them back, they ("they" meaning the man on the ground and the one on his shoulders going for a ride) began to run away in "fear." This got a good rise out of everyone watching, including their volunteer.

This next photo was the immediate aftermath of the volunteer handing the juggling swords to the performer. This performer, whose name I believe was Tobin (maybe coincidental, maybe not, because of the fact that they are in Boston), showed excellent control in less than ideal conditions. Even though it was warm and clear out, it was still very windy. It proved not to be that much of a factor though. One thing I do like about this photo is the backdrop of the building. Quincy Market is in the downtown section of the city where there is some very nice architecture.

After this performance, I took a stroll inside to grab a snack. Chili cheese fries at The Brown Derby proved to be a phenomenal choice. After eating I walked around for about 15 more minutes before seeing another crowd starting to form in the same place as the previous show.

Luckily I found another spot near the front of the crowd for this new performer. This man apparently went by Prop Comic Lucky Bob. Just like the other performers, he was extremely good at getting the crowd involved in the show. He would use a lot of young volunteers, including this little girl whose name I believed was Mia. In this photo, Mia was bringing this plate back to the performer for his next stunt. A little earlier on, he instructed her to keep the plate safe until he was to use it as part of the show. It really was a cool moment. The performer really made her day by showing his gratitude for returning his plate to him. He really made the day worth it for this young spectator as he did for all of those watching.

This photo was taken towards the end of Lucky Bob's performance. He selected this boy in the orange for the task of throwing him the juggling pins while balancing on top of a rolling board. Now, it was still windy at this time which made balancing on the board and the throwing of the juggling pins more difficult. In this photo, one would say that the volunteer is handing the pin to the performer. What makes this funny is that he is actually doing the opposite. The performer is reaching for the pin and the volunteer is actually holding the pin far enough away from him to make it an extremely uncomfortable situation. I do not think that Lucky Bob had this in mind when he chose this young boy to be his assistant for this part of his show. Nevertheless, I would figure the smiles on everyone's faces (the boy and the performer included) definitely showed that he made a good choice.

Warm weather in Boston brings about some very unexpected, yet entertaining, events. I highly recommend that if you have a chance to see any type of street theater or street performance, don't just walk by. Stay and enjoy!