1 OFFSTAGEBY ISSUE 100. MARCH 2026. PRINT RUN: 1999 COPIES. offstage BY OFFSTAGEMAGAZINE BY GAMBLAZZ Issue 100. July 2026. Print run: 1999 copies.
2 3 Instructions for transformation. The order of dressing the artist before the exit to the tournament arena: • Shoes are polished with wax to the shine of the arena. Shoelaces are tied with a nautical knot (not to stumble over your own good luck). • Pants with arrows forward. In the right leg — a spare coin for throwing, in the left — a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from the hands after a nervous party. • Vest. Fastened from the bottom to the top. The top three buttons are undone to show the shirt (and to hide an extra card in the breast). • The jacket is only worn over the left shoulder. The right shoulder must always be free for throwing dice. • The top hat. It is put on at the very last moment, before going out into the light. And it is removed only before the most difficult opponent. The cos tume is tried on three timе s 33 The troupe The troupe THE LIVES OF THOSE YOU WILL REMEMBER. MEET THE PEOPLE WHO HOLD YOUR FIGURES BY THE STRINGS. Well, you’re finally reached the door where life begins and the show ends. They don’t put on a smile for the audience here. They take off their masks and put on...others. I could let you inti dressing room right away. But you wouldn’t understand anything there. So first, look at the costumes they’re wearing, and then meet those sitting in front of the mirrors. Memorize their faces. They will wink at you from arena. Without them, the dressing room is just a room. Take your time. The costume is tried on three times: on a hook, in the light, and at the moment when the spotlight goes out. Only then does it become your skin.» Everything hangs here. Every hanger remembers the artist’s name and weight. The costume room is the most silent place in the circus. It’s not customary to talk here. Here, they listen to the fabric. As the keeper of this wardrobe, I know everything about everyone. I know that an aerialist always has a lottery chip in the left pocket of his vest (for good luck), and a tiger’s claw is sewn into the lining of a tamer’s jacket. When an artist leaves (for a tournament or permanently), they leave a part of themselves behind. Sometimes, it’s literal. That wig still has a lock of hair from a 1953 rider. THE TROUPETHE TROUP CONSISTS OF 10 PEOPLE. ALL OF THEM ARE NOT ONLY BRILLIANT ACTORS, BUT ALSO GREAT PLAYERS. THEY PLAY BETTER, SEE FURTHER, AND NEVER GIVE A BAD SUGGESTION. IF THEY WANT TO.
4 5 5 The dressing room The troupe 4 he can give you weighted dice The troupe Gymnast from Russia, has strings hanging from her trapeze that descend to the players she chooses. Clown from Germany. He challenges you with the unexpected, testing your endurance. He always pulls out the aces. illusionist from London. Her special skill is that she can take a piece of chess from under your nose. STRONGMAN from Norway At shows, he can break trees, and at tournaments, he can use your enemy’s tactics. ANNA PETROVA, 22, AERIAL GYMNAST. ELIS FOX, 27, ILLUSIONIST. HANS SHMIDT, 35, STRONGMAN. LEO VENTURA, 29, CLOWN.
6 77 The dressing room The dressing room The dressing room in our circus is a sacred place. Outsiders are not allowed in here. Even their own are knocking. Not because they’re afraid of finding someone naked-they’re not shy about naked bodies here. They’re afraid to break the mood. Before the tournament, each artist reassembles himself. An improperly assembled artist in the arena is a disaster. The smell is special here. A mixture of makeup (sweet and chemical), old wood, and women’s perfume (Chanel No. 5, which Lizzie Fox sprays on her makeup). If you sniff, you’ll smell acetone, chocolate, and tobacco. Everyone smokes, except for Isabel Leru, as horses can smell it from a mile away. The drawers of dressing tables are a separate universe. Take a look: • Phineas (illusionist): three decks (one marked), superglue, a photo of a woman with her face down, and mints. • Elizabeth Fox (gymnast): a plaster, valerian, and a deck of tarot cards. She uses them to predict her performance before tournaments. • Hans Schmidt (strongman): bandages, a 16 kg weight, a postcard from my mother, a lucky die (all the sixes are erased from kisses). • Leo Ventura (clown): three red noses, a notebook of jokes, a rubber mallet, sandwiches, a photo of a cat in a hat. Eli s Fox & Anna Pe trova The most interesting thing in the dressing room is the mirrors. There are a lot of them. They say that the ghost of an old magician who hanged himself here in 1947 after losing the circus in a card game sometimes looks into one of them (the dressing table). Newcomers are scared at first, but then they get used to it. Especially since the ghost is harmless: it will straighten your tie or give you the right lipstick if you’re late. Every artist has an old suitcase that has traveled with them for years. Inside, there are not only belongings, but also memories. We persuaded Isabelle Leru to open hers. Inside: a dried rose (a gift from the jockey she rode in her youth), a photograph of the old circus in France where she started.
8 9 offstage 9988 offstage THE CLOWN THINKS IT’S EASIER TO HIDE AN ACE UP YOUR SLEEVE. IT’S HARDER TO HIDE THE FEAR IN YOUR EYES
10 1110 UNDER THE DOME HOW IS THE ARENA BEING PREPARED FOR THE TOURNAMENT? Before the tournament, the floor is sprinkled with sand instead of sawdust... for the hourglass. The stage lights are adjusted so that they only blind the players sitting with their backs to the exit. Is it a small detail? There are no small details in our games. But the preparations begin long before the lights are turned on. Today, for example, the stagehands are rearranging the backgammon table for the fifth time. They say that the day before yesterday, the players complained about a draft coming from this direction. Of course, the draft had nothing to do with it — it was just that Victor «Khlyst» was sitting on the other side, and his tigers like to breathe down the necks of newcomers. But they decided to move the table. For prevention. Under the dome I f the tournament star ts la te tomorrow, i t’s Jac k’s fault 11 I’ve been working here for forty years. I started out under the old director, may he rest in peace (or chess, he loved chess). Back then, the preparation was different. The floor was covered with real sawdust to absorb blood in case of a fight. Now it’s sand. Cleanliness, sterility. In the old days, the pieces were brought in wooden crates lined with felt. Now it’s plastic, ugh. But the kings are still the same. I can recognize them by their voices. The black king, for example, always creaks when he is put in his place. Nervous. The most difficult thing is to adjust the light so that it does not interfere with the artists, but distracts the players. It’s an art. The color of the light bulbs has a specific effect: yellow calms, blue alerts, and red irritates. Today, we’ve chosen red. Let them get nervous. — Overseer Under the dome IT’S DIFFICULT AND INTERESTING.