Early in the weekend, we plonk ourselves on the ground by The Pavement stage, the perfect Wednesday location at the festival, where Kiki & Pascal are about to offer light slapstick and a little bit of unexpected acrobatics.
They are even more impressive on a windy day at Glastonbury where the weekend’s dust is blowing around this junction that connects the Theatre & Circus fields with West Holts, William’s Green and routes to the Pyramid and Other stages.
Pascal is trying to rope in passersby. “if we’re rubbish you can always leave…[but] nothing else is open,” he suggests. “It’s true. Look at your app,” says Kiki, chiming in.
It’s not entirely true that there’s nothing else on, but Wednesday is the quietest day on site, which makes it the perfect time to check out the Theatre & Circus offerings, for anyone not already aware of their value.
A decent number of people take up the offer – the numbers noticeably rising as Kiki & Pascal offer their warm-up, Kiki managing to fit her entire body through a tennis racket.
From there, it’s into the main event and the story of the pair’s romantic love affair – ‘the story of how we met’ – with the highlight being a comedic routine to My Endless Love where we discover that Pascal can sing and Kiki shouldn’t (at least not in character).
It’s fun, it’s funny, ever so slightly dangerous and thrilling in its final spike-thrusting moments, and with the added payoff of one perfect slapstick ending, it’s a fitting start to the weekend.
Kiki & Pascal performed on The Pavement at Glastonbury Festival 2024, running from 26 to 30 June