Backstage at the Apollo Theatre, Oxford, Ion the Moldavian Acrobat gazes at Tamara and Richard, the Oxford Mail competition winners, and wonders how he can turn them into jugglers in time for curtain-up. He has about five hours to work the magic.

The pair will join the cast of the Chisnau National Opera for the performance of this evening's Pagliacci as winners of the Mail's opera competition.

Tamara Double, 46, of Cowley, and Richard Duplogena, 53, of Abingdon Road, Oxford, can scarcely wait to start rehearsals.

Tamara, who is half-Russian, half-Austrian but has lived in Oxford since she was six, runs her own skin therapy business. Richard used to work in Blackwell's music shop, attended the Guildford School of Acting and has performed in Venice. "It looks like wonderful fun. I'm hoping they'll throw us around a bit," enthuses Tamara. I can do stage somersaults," admits Richard doubtfully.

Ion, who bears a strong resemblance to the one-time bad boy of tennis, Ille Nastase, speaks little English. Fortunately, Sacha the interpreter is on hand to translate Ion's instructions to his new pupils.

He hands Tamara a stripey green costume which looks like it might have been previously used for covering deck chairs on the Titanic and instructs his pupil to put her hair in bunches. The comedy effect of this is immediately apparent. Richard strips off his street trousers to reveal he's wearing ballet tights. The comedy effect of this is also immediately apparent.

Ion takes one look and loses no time in crowbarring Richard into a pair of clown's trousers. The Acrobat formerly of the Moscow Bolshoi Circus hands each of his pupils a daft hat. Richard also gets a black frock coat to wear, which prompts Ion to utter one of his few English phrases. Pointing to Richard, he announces: "Charlie Chaplin!"

Then he claps his hands and says: "Look me, plis," before demonstrating how to flip the hat from your head, catch it on your foot, flick it into the air and replace it on your head with a neat twist of the wrist.

Tamara gets the hang of it straightaway, but Richard appears to be having trouble.

Maybe they could form a cabaret act Double Trouble.

"Look me, plis," repeats Ion and goes through it all again. It's harder than it looks and this time the acrobat has decided to add a little flourish to the moves. He gives a little skip and a jump and throws his arms wide. "BOE!" he commands. Tamara and Richard look nonplussed. "BOE!", Ion insists. Suddenly the rouble drops. He means "Bow!"

And so they do. After a just half and hour, the Oxford arm of the Chisnau National Opera have mastered the move.

By curtain-up time, our competition winners may indeed be ready to be acrobatically "thrown around" the Apollo stage.

But in the circumstances, the traditional theatrical good luck message, break a leg might seem too much like tempting fate.