source: Philadelphia Fringe Festival
Estonian performer Julia Masli opens a five-show run of her widely praised solo piece at the Proscenium at the Drake this week, according to Billy Penn at WHYY.
The show, titled “ha ha ha ha ha ha ha,” runs Thursday through Sunday, September 13, at 302 S. Hicks St. as part of the Philadelphia Fringe Festival’s curated Fringe Arts Presents lineup.
The premise is simple. Masli, costumed in a distinctive hat and performing with a mannequin’s leg in place of one arm, asks audience members to share their problems. The clown character then attempts solutions. The results vary widely.
How the Show Works Each Night
No two performances are the same. Billy Penn reported that on one occasion an audience member cited trouble sleeping and ended up on stage, on a chaise lounge, wearing an eye mask for the remainder of the show.
Duct tape has also figured in, sometimes literally bonding audience members together as part of the problem-solving.
Masli told Billy Penn she considers herself a socially anxious person offstage. The clown character lets her set aside the effort of social performance and operate with a kind of openness she described as child-like.
The costume removes the pressure of getting things right, she explained, without turning her into a different person.
The show’s outcome often surprises her. At a recent performance in Estonia, a stranger in the audience raised the problem of missing a sibling. Masli’s own younger sister was in the crowd that night.
The moment prompted both of them to break down, along with the audience member who had raised the issue. Masli told Billy Penn that the stage gave her a way to express feelings she would not have been able to share directly in conversation with her sister.
Community-Building in the Room
Audience members do more than watch. They actively propose and debate solutions alongside Masli, which she told Billy Penn may be the show’s most valuable quality.
Most of the problems that come up are ones she has no idea how to address, she said, and the crowd steps in.
Fringe Arts chief executive Nell Bang-Jensen told Billy Penn the organization was drawn to the show precisely because Masli builds a genuinely different performance each night by treating the audience as collaborators.
Bang-Jensen described the work as artistically bold and theatrically ambitious, noting it stretches audiences while also welcoming them.
Fringe programming director Mikaela Boone first encountered the show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland before bringing it to Philadelphia.
Grief and Dementia Processed on Stage
The material that surfaces is not always light. While dealing privately with her grandfather’s dementia, Masli found herself on stage when an audience member brought up a similar struggle.
She recalled a hospital visit where her grandfather announced they were heading to the opera. Sharing that memory with a stranger going through the same experience, she told Billy Penn, reached a depth she rarely achieves even with close friends.
Shows run Thursday through Sunday at the Proscenium at the Drake as part of Fringe Arts Presents.