Entering Burning Dramaturgy: Áine Donnelly @ Edfringe 2017

Let’s recognize and celebrate human struggle at the 2017 Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Theatre Infinite presents

Hi. (Entering Burned Area)

Clown Rodeo Debbie is your guide on her tour of the Burned Area, where fire has caused destruction but has also created new possibilities.  

The tour begins at her imperfect house and will then explore the wonders of the meadow and forest before examining the mysteries of the Burned Area.  The tour includes investigation of mankind’s solitude and frailty by seeing the true miraculousness of the world.

Venue: Greenside @ Infirmary Street (Venue 236)

Tickets: Previews £4

Full Run £8 (£6)

Previews: 4-6 August 2017                 

Dates:  7-26 August 2017 (not 13, 20)

Time: 12:55 (50 minutes)

Only 48 years in the making, Hi. (Entering Burned Area) was created out a lifetime of bad decisions, unsought dreams and resulting disappointments. 

What was the inspiration for this performance?

I had been studying red nose for about 3 years, and I had recently taken a day job against my better judgment.  I was contemplating the enormity of my mistake and vowed to quit my job and bring a clown show to Edinburgh.  

Also I had reached middle age and realized that

the only expertise I had achieved was the culmination of the endless series of mistakes I had made.  Then I realized that that culmination was an actually genuine kind of expertise - and I could share it on stage, so others could see they're not alone in their struggles.

Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas? 

Performance is more critical than ever in the era of tiny screens becoming a ubiquitous replacement for face-to-face interaction.

How did you become interested in making performance?

I wanted to explore red nose but did not have enough experience with it to assume my usual role of director.  I had to perform it myself. 

Is there any particular approach to the making of the show?

The show was created entirely from improvisation, which was then culled and shaped into a narrative.

Does the show fit with your usual productions?

No – this is my first full-length red nose piece of my own creation.

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

I hope they’ll recognize their own struggle and realize they are not alone in their experience – that their struggle makes them part of the family of man.  Struggle is actually part of what makes this world miraculous.

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

Creating story using clarity and simplicity, and hopefully, poetry. 

Producer/Author/Performer Áine Donnelly says, ‘I was going to

work to yet another job I should never have taken, and I began to cry.  I had suddenly realized that, having reached middle age, my only expertise was that of a bumbler. Clearly, the only remedy was, at long last, to put my lifelong bamboozling into service of my true love and worst boyfriend ever, theatre.  I silently vowed through my tears to quit my job and bring a clown show to Edinburgh.’  Red nose was the only possible medium to theatrically translate this wealth of constant ineptitude.

Theatre Infinite is a brand-new company making its debut at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe with this brand-new red nose show.  Producer/Author/Performer Áine Donnelly is a director, playwright, butterfingers, and teeth grinder.  Director/Dramaturg Elizabeth Baron is an award-winning collaborative theatre maker who has directed many red nose shows, including Instituto Prama’s Pio Mare… Mare Pio.