News

Under the small top

By Paul Leighton
Staff writer
Published: February 8, 2008

BEVERLY — The circus is coming to town — the flea circus, that is.

Tomorrow morning at Monet's Garden Art Café, magician Jonathan Dark, a Beverly resident, will perform what he calls "the smallest show on earth." Dark sent out a press release saying his "minuscule entertainers, each and every one a mighty mite, will do what they do best: circus tricks."

Naturally, we had a few questions.

Do you really have fleas in your circus?

"That's my story, and I'm sticking to it."

How many fleas do you have?

"There are three fleas in the circus, but I also have 1,833 understudies. I have an old-fashioned cane with a screw top that has dry ice inside. I keep them in that cane in case I use the understudies."

What kind of tricks do they do?

"The stars of the show are Barnaby and Victor. They do a mini-chariot race that's sort of an homage to the chariot race in 'Ben Hur.' There's also Madame Fifi, who does a high-wire act. I ordered her direct from Paris. She came off a poodle there. At the end of the show, the whole troupe pushes a small carousel around."

How do you get the fleas to do what you want?

"Fleas are primarily blind, so that's makes it difficult to train them. I use a combination of music and food. The food, unfortunately, is blood. I provide that, so I do suffer for my art."

Isn't it hard for the audience to see?

"You can't really get a bead on the flea itself, but when he climbs that rope ladder you can see the ladder shaking; and when he hits the diving board, the board does a bounce; and when he hits the water, there's a splash. Fleas can't swim, so it's my job to get him out of there as quickly as possible."

Should anybody be worried about bringing 1,800 fleas into a café?

"I've trained them so well it's a 100 percent guarantee that no fleas are going to be getting loose."

Jonathan Dark & His Amazin' Flea Circus will perform tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. at Monet's Garden Art Café at 95 Rantoul St. Admission is $6 for adults and $3 for children.