Published in The List
The
art of course acting
Sing
it from the rooftops! Free running has entered the theatre. Mark Fisher catches
his breath as the athletes of 3Run blur past him
To
see Sam Parham in his element, you'd need to be on a beach in South Africa.
With no one else around, you'd see him bounding from boulder to boulder,
oblivious to the world.
Not
so long ago, the 24-year-old from Basingstoke was in just such a place. 'I had
the day to myself so I went down to the beach,' he says. 'There were these huge
rocks all along the bay and I just started jumping from one to the other. Four
hours went by with me jumping from rock to rock, completely in my own world. It
was like my form of meditation, the only time I was completely me.'
Where
you are more likely to see Parham – and where he is almost just as much in his
element – is on the city streets, leaping from pavement to wall, from wall to
stairwell, from stairwell to rooftop. He is a free runner, a leading light of
3Run, a group of friends whose love of parkour (from the French 'parcours du
combattant', a military obstacle course) developed from a hobby into a career.
When they're not out and about enthusing the next generation of Basingstoke
teenagers, they are appearing in James Bond, Harry Potter and Pirates of the
Caribbean movies or doing adverts for Nestle, Sprite and Microsoft.
Now,
on the Edinburgh Fringe, you can see them in Free Run: Confidential, an
hour-long show that attempts to capture something of the skill, agility and
excitement of their freeform sport. Directed by Annabel Haydn and performed in
the upside down cow of the Udderbelly, it takes place on all sides of the
audience, as the eight-strong crew swing, leap and dive around the space, while
video footage suggests the concrete playground that is their more usual
habitat. In a blur of movement, they take turns to show off their street
stunts, acrobatics, body-popping, martial arts, climbing skills and cool
athletic moves.
What
is striking about Parham, when I catch up with him before a performance of Free Run: Confidential on London's South Bank where the Udderbelly is
grazing, is how much he defies expectation. Short, muscular, articulate and
irrepressibly good natured, there is nothing about him to suggest the
lawlessness and danger that free running calls to mind. On the contrary, he
talks about his life's passion not as an anti-social pursuit, not even as a
sport, but as an art.
It
is an art, he makes clear, informed by strict discipline and serious
philosophy. The 3Run website talks about the group's determination to develop
'not only as physical performers, but also as "good" people [and]
supportive friends'. As mission statements go, it wouldn't be out of place in a
Christian Union newsletter.
Yet
this is an activity with a less than squeaky clean reputation. In a recent
court case in Southampton, a man accused of stealing lead off a roof claimed
he'd spotted his haul while indulging in what a newspaper called 'the daredevil
sport of free running'. When a teenager fell 20ft from the roof of Poundland in
Twickenham, the police considered pressing charges. In Bristol, a policeman
ended up in hospital after one of the men he was talking down from a rooftop
fell on top of him.
This,
though, is not the kind of free running Parham recognises. As he sees it, parkour,
with its aim to get from A to B as efficiently as possible, and free running,
with its belief in aesthetics and individuality, are high-minded pursuits. 'It
develops your body and your balance and it develops you mentally and
psychologically as well,' he says, adding that his own approach is influenced
by Buddhism. 'It also develops your confidence. I never used to be able to
speak to people in a room, whereas now if I can do a back somersault in front
of people, I can talk to them. Any challenges I come across in life, parkour
and free running has helped me.'
But
what of the media image of free running as a form of vandalism? 'That's the
misinterpretation that some free runners are going to give,' he says. 'There
are vandals out there and it may get confused with parkour and free running. I
always say the environment is our playground. If we don't respect it, and if
we're not respectful of private property, then we're no longer going to have
this environment – people will put up anti-climb paint and barbed wire. It's
not something I would ever condone.'
He
admits there's a grey area between the acceptable and the illegal, but sees no
problem as long as participants are respectful. 'Just be mindful that, if a
place is a private property, to try and stay away from it. Don't be jumping off
a public staircase when there's children trying to walk down it. It's those
common-sense things.'
An
element of risk is part of the fun, but far from being an adrenaline junkie, he
is a cautious runner who knows his physical limits. The 3Run team are more
likely to be found working on their moves in a confined area than to be scaling
the city skyline. 'It's actually those small beautiful intricate movements that
are more appealing to me than just finding the biggest roof jump,' says Parham,
who has never broken a bone. 'The philosophy is to prepare your body for
something that may or may not happen. I do roof jumps, however I would never
tackle one where if I fell I would die, unless I knew I was going to make it.'
For
many young people, free running is a craze that comes and goes, like
skateboards, rollerblades or Rubik's cubes. But for the 3Run friends, it was
less a fad than a way of life. 'We started off as kids with no intention of
this being a profession whatsoever,' says Parham. 'We watched Jackie Chan. He
was our biggest inspiration. We saw Jackie's films and went out almost trying
to recreate them. We were just practising in sandpits and swimming pools and
heard about parkour and free running as a discipline slightly after that. We
realised it was similar to what we were doing except we didn't have a
philosophy.'
They
took on board the philosophies developed in France by Sébastien Foucan and
David Belle, spent time in the local gymnasium and, on the streets, started
coaching each other. The form was so new, there was no way to learn it unless
they taught themselves. In doing so, they realised they could integrate their
existing passions and skills into the sport. 'Essentially, it's just movement,'
he says. 'You can incorporate the same kind of movement you'd use in climbing
or skateboarding or martial arts and you don't need anything except your body.'
For
3Run, the freedom of the form was not an excuse for anarchy, but an opportunity
for self-expression. 'We always consider ourselves as students of movement,' he
says. 'Parkour and free running fit that idea so well for us because there are
no rules, there is no competition. If you look at three people doing exactly
the same thing, it would be totally different every single time.'
Having
a similar enthusiasm for making videos – member Chase Armitage being a
particular whiz behind the camera – they started uploading films of themselves
onto YouTube. Before they knew it, they were getting hits in the hundreds of
thousands. 'It showed us there was a potential for this,' says Parham.
Advertising agencies also recognised their potential and soon the requests for
commercial cameos, public appearances and sponsorship deals started coming in.
'It was so surreal,' says Parham, who studied business at university, but is
making a living from 3Run. 'One day you're just training and having fun and
then the next day, you're training and having fun, but you're getting paid for
it.'
There
is a contradiction, of course, in bringing a free-ranging sport into the
enclosed space of a theatre, but that's a small hurdle for 3Run to leap and
their combination of athletic skill and enthusiasm is infectious. 'We love doing
it,' he says. 'That's something that I hope comes across in our
shows. It's the reason why we keep doing it and why we keep wanting to
improve. Getting good is the by-product of enjoying it.'
Free Run: Confidential,
Udderbelly, 0844 545 8252, 3–29 Aug (not 16, 22), 6.20pm, £10.50–£17.50
(£13.50–£15.50).
© Mark Fisher 2011
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