WILTON – For the Red Trouser Show’s David Graham and Tobin Renwick, 2020 and COVID have been a bit of a juggling act.

Not to worry – they’re professionals.

As elementary school students, the two started acrobatics and the like in the fifth grade when they got a new gym teacher at the Pine Hill Waldorf School in Wilton.

“That was Jackie Davis,” Renwick said. Most people know Jackie from her work with students at the Flying Gravity Circus. “We both went to Pine Hill. She was the catalyst and just having that circus program at the school, and then we both joined Circus Smirkus as well.”

Graham said that because of that initial interest in circus performing, he and Renwick attended the Circus Smirkus summer camp for two years.

“Then we heard that they had a touring show,” Graham continued. “So we ended up being in the touring show for five years.”

Around the same time that the two worked with Davis, they became founding members of the Flying Gravity Circus, which is now a non-profit as New Hampshire’s premier youth circus organization.

“They’re going strong still,” Graham noted.

The two went professional full-time right out of high school, which was in 2003.

“At the time, we were mostly doing circus performances, so we were part of a big cast of people, which was great,” Graham explained. “And we were spending a lot of time training and developing what we do.”

Coffs Harbour 25-9-10 Crowds have flocked to Coffs Harbour to enjoy the world class acts at the 2010 Coffs Harbour International Buskers Festival Photo Frank Redward

Graham and Renwick were also part of a four-person act, just doing a six-minute routine, which was part of a larger show.

“We lost a couple of members along the way and then it was just the two of us,” Graham said.

“They didn’t die or anything,” chimed Renwick with a laugh. “Our first year of street shows was in 2006.”

While Graham has remained in New Hampshire, Renwick headed down to Key West to perform solo shows. The duo typically spends time down there each year during the winter months and have done so for the past 15 years.

In the fall of 2020, the Red Trouser Show took to local streets around the state to perform for audiences during COVID.

“We tried out doing a socially distanced street show, we would advertise basically through Facebook,” Renwick said. “We’d allow the first 100 people in and then we would cap it. We’d disclose the location to them at that point when they had R.S.V.P.’d to us, that way we could completely control the crowds. We’re thinking of starting that up again in the spring.”

As for keeping themselves creative, Graham and Renwick have been working on new material.

“We’ve been coming up with new stuff, while Tobin has been working on solo material,” Graham said. “We’ve been dealing with a few events that are starting to schedule themselves again. We’re trying to get organized for next fall of ’21, lining some stuff up again. And then we’re training on new tricks, and also, I’ve also spent a lot of time compiling a new promotional video for us.”

Graham said the future of gigs is still a bit of a waiting game.

“We want to be ready to go when stuff does open up,” Graham said. “There’s a street performers organization in Boston, where we are in regular contact and we work a lot at Faneuil Hall. So we’re in contact with the merchants association, who are the ones who typically get the performance permit from the city and they’ve been in talks with the city.”

While things are still locked down in Massachusetts, the two are optimistic.

“We just got a pretty promising email from them the other day, which made it sound like sometime next week, they would be allowing outdoor gatherings of 150 people. It’s definitely moving in that direction.”

Currently, Renwick has been busy performing at Mallory Square in Key West, where tourists and locals alike go to watch the sunset each day.

“I got here at the beginning of February,” Renwick said, speaking on a Zoom call from Key West. “I have a month in, after not doing street shows since mid-March of last year. It was very exciting to be back performing.”

Renwick said there are a surprising number of people in Key West right now.

“Coming from New Hampshire, I never would have imagined,” Renwick said. “It’s definitely different. It’s not quite like non-COVID times, but it’s closer to that than there being nobody here.”

The duo also does a lot of county and state fairs, but haven’t done any since the onset of the pandemic.

“We have one scheduled for next fall,” Graham said. “Again, we’ll just have to play it by ear but we would have to space people out. We do some stage performances as well, but it’s really not a big part of our income. It’s just a handful of shows a year where we’re on a stage.”

Pre-COVID, their years would be booked heavily.

“Our typical season would start in Key West at the beginning of February,” Renwick said. “And we would be here, depending on the years, from two to three months. And then we’d return back north and start up just on weekends in Boston.”

In Key West, the Red Trouser Show would perform two shows a day, six days a week. Each show is roughly 30 minutes long.

“In Boston, we’d be there through Christmas,” Renwick said. “But that summer season, we would also travel a lot to these fairs and festivals.”

The past few years the duo has averaged 400 shows a year.

“If we go to the Iowa State Fair, then we’re doing three shows every day, eleven days in a row, no breaks,” Graham said. “There are certain seasons which are very intense for us. And then, December and January, we’re not doing any shows. Maybe a New Year’s Eve gig, and one or two shows here and there.”

Renwick said it takes time to recover from the demanding schedules.

“The year 2019 was the first time that we had endured any serious injury,” Renwick shared. “David had to get rotator cup surgery.”

Graham said it was from wear and tear over the years.

“I decided to plan a surgery and have most of my recovery during our down season,” Graham said.

Another factor that the duo has been evaluating and reevaluating has been the assurance that if they were to do live shows, that they were doing the shows responsibly with proper audience social distancing.

“We went back and forth on this,” Graham said. “We like the neighborhood show format, where we have more control over it. But in terms of doing street shows, there is that back and forth.”

Growing up, Renwick’s favorite performer was Bobby May, a professional juggler.

“Jackie Davis did something right,” Graham interjected. “She completely changed the course of our lives. We were so inspired by the potential of what she was showing us.”

If they weren’t performers, Graham said he couldn’t say what he’d be doing now.

“A lot of our friends went to circus school,” Graham said. “Up in Montreal, working for Cirque du Soleil. But being a street performer, you’re your own boss. When you tire of your show, you adjust it. And you can write your own material and bits. And you have complete control over how many shows you do a year. How much you want to travel and how many countries you want to travel to.”

“Because we fell into this at such an early age,” Renwick said. “There’s that. And I love the outdoors, so I feel like that’s probably the area I would have fallen into, like a park ranger or something.”

Some street performers have flipped to doing live shows and streaming shows, but Graham said that is a lot of work.

“It’s a pretty big change,” Graham said. “For not a lot of income.”

“I think the people who succeeded the most were the straight comedians,” Renwick said. “This comedian from the U.K. used to be a street performer. And now he’s doing interactive comedy evenings. He had that comedy club vibe but everyone was in their home.”

Graham and Renwick keep their shows fresh because they do so many street shows.

“There is something really special about doing a street show,” Graham said. “If you’re not in tune with the people who are there that day, you cannot just phone it in. You have to make that connection, or your tips go way down.”

To learn more, visit www.theredtrousershow.com.

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