The mane event

It's backstage at the Gaiety and Bill and Ben are in their little pen, snuffling away and stocking up on hay to sustain themselves for the important panto role which awaits them nightly. Bill and Ben are a pair of eight-year-old black Shetland ponies, who appear only once on stage in Cinderella, but what an appearance it is.

The ponies are the lynchpin of the magical transformation scene. They pull Cinderella's glittery silver carriage on stage, which is all aglow with a million perfectly-named fairy lights, and is fitted out with a blue velvet heart-shaped seat. Bill and Ben will be modelling white harness, with matching plumes.

Currently on loan from Fossetts Circus, Bill and Ben are described as "seasoned performers" by their minder, Mark Cowl, who explains what their usual day job is. "They have their own little routine in the circus," he explains. "They go over jumps with monkeys riding on their backs. Edward shows them. He's nine.

"They're so easy to work with. The curtain comes down after they walk across with the carriage, and they know to come back here. They just turn round and walk back by themselves. No bother to them. They always work together. Take them away from each other and they'd pine."

Bill and Ben have long black coats, floppy manes and flowing tails. All that hair is due for the chop before the show opens, because it's too hot backstage for winter coats intended as protection against wild Scottish winters and gale-force winds coming off the North Sea.

"I walk them around Stephen's Green every day," says Mark. "Sometimes twice a day. It takes at least an hour to walk round, because people come up to us all the time to pet them." In their pen, Bill and Ben look up and snort lovingly at their leader.

In addition to their other skills, these little ponies are good Euro citizens. "Most circus animals are trained to respond to commands in another language, because they often work in other countries." So if you see Bill and Ben circumnavigating the Green try saying "Allez, allez, allez!" to them, and see what happens.