“This production crawled up inside my brain and demanded an exorcism.”

Responder: Frankie Mulinix, Artistic Director of Burning Bones Physical Theatre
Name of Company: Burning Bones Physical Theatre
Name of Show: Harry Clarke

1. Why should people see your show?

Come see Harry Clarke because it is a darkly funny production asking questions about identity,  parasitism, and the personas we play told in Burning Bones Physical Theatre’s distinctive style. Come watch Jaborice Knight and Darren O’Brien, two immensely talented performers, perform 19 characters in this athletic, challenging, and nuanced “one-man” show. Come be a part of this unique and beautiful production interweaving a brilliant script with aerial silks, burlesque, and butoh set to local composer Ptar Flamming’s work.

2. What about festivals intrigues you? Any why the Atlanta Fringe?

The Vancouver Fringe Festival gave me one of my first performance experiences as a new grad. I have had the privilege to attend and perform in Fringe Festivals in several different countries. I love the model of the Fringe Festival: getting to discover a range of different performers and styles, support for performers, engagement with the public, a growing community… I believe that the Atlanta Fringe Festival offers immense value and support to performers and is a wonderful invitation to audience to engage with innovative and boundary-pushing live performance.

[Above: check out Burning Bones’ unique performance style in the above clip from their adaptation of Harold Pinter’s “One for the Road”. If we may editorialize — butoh-based movement pieces are THE SHIT.] 

3. What inspired you to create this?

This production crawled up inside my brain and demanded an exorcism.

4. This year ain’t normal and there’s no sense pretending it is. How has Covid affected what you’re doing for this festival?

Covid has me asking questions about sustainability, safety, and the well-being of everyone involved. I’m often told to have much larger casts and this was a brilliant opportunity to find the complexity and nuance that is possible with this script and this cast, to spotlight the range of skills Darren and Jaborice bring to the production.

It actually became more complex! Initially, I was in talks with a local actor about doing this one-man play more as it is scripted. Due to scheduling conflicts, we were unable to make it happen (yet), and I began to build a concept for a production where the same character is embodied by different actors, to explore the question of how a person’s identity or actions are “read” differently based on the person (who can get away with following a stranger around on the street unnoticed?)

5. What have you learned from working on your show so far?

This production has reaffirmed for me 1. the need to be flexible 2. that challenges will never come from the direction you expect 3. creative collaboration leads to greater works

6. There’s a mysterious stranger in the back row of your show, wearing a big ol’ N95 mask and a baseball cap and there’s something weirdly familiar about them, and then they come up afterwards to tell you they loved your show. In your WILDEST DREAMS, who is this mysterious stranger? (Bonus points if your mysterious stranger is an Atlanta celeb.)

Jennifer Coolidge – our muse for an upcoming show 😉

7. Fringes are the place to really push the boundaries so we gotta ask: are you inviting your family to this show are “Hey, maybe sit this one out you guys…”

I would love my family to be able to attend this show! While we are pushing boundaries, this is not a show to sit out! Whether someone considers themselves a “theatre person” or not, you will find something special over the course of this show.

8. We’ve asked this question every year for the past ten years or so but it hits different this year: Will your show change the world?

This show has the power to change those who come to watch it. And, as part of a larger constellation of people asking transformational questions with live productions, I do believe we are changing the world one performance at a time.

9. Zoom meetings: dress up head to toe or Donald Duck it?

I teach movement on Zoom so I definitely wear clothes top and bottom!

10. We’re making an excellent Fringey Feelings playlist. Describe your show in two or three songs we can add to keep the jams flowing.

“Never Fight a Man with a Perm” IDLES

“Don’t Touch My Shit” The Coathangers

“Devil Inside Me” Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes

And be sure to check out our composer, Ptar Flamming’s Soundcloud

Sounds incredible, right? Gonna need to nab those tickets, right? Click here to reserve your seats today!