Julia Masli didn’t indiscriminately choose to employ seven ha’s in the title of her show.
“It sounded right in my mouth when I laughed,” said the Estonia-born, London-based performer. “It rhythmically makes sense. It flows. I like when people try to remember it’s seven ha’s. It’s nice to know people are connecting when saying the title to each other.”
Connection is what Masli’s “ha ha ha ha ha ha ha” is all about.
To say it’s a one-person show isn’t completely accurate, because audience members become part of it, too, if individually they answer Masli’s question posed to the room: “What’s your problem?”
They also may find themselves helping Masli address another participant’s problem, whether that be providing someone who has a headache with a painkiller or offering a hug to someone who really needs one.
Julia Masli brings her dreamy audience-participation theater/psychology/comedy event “Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha” to La Jolla Playhouse this weekend. (Matt Crockett)
“It’s always different,” said Masli, who brings “ha ha ha ha ha ha ha” to La Jolla Playhouse’s Mandell Weiss Forum this week for a two-week WOW Experience engagement. “People can be so quick to step in and help each other. Some shows it happens naturally, some it takes me by surprise.
“It’s a very beautiful thing to witness, seeing people help each other or be vulnerable to each other or make new friends or new connections.”
The show can be as funny as its title. After all, Masli, who premiered “ha ha ha ha ha ha ha” three years ago at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, is a trained clown who studied comedy theater art at the Ecole Philippe Gaulier in Paris and later taught there.
Though she dresses on stage in Victorian clothing with a gleaming light on her head and utilizes a mannequin’s leg instead of a left arm she somewhat resists the title of “clown” and certainly resists any single definition of a clown.
“I’m just a person trying to figure out life,” she said. “At this point it’s just like a philosophical thing of trying to do my best and I’m going to fail, and I’m going to try again anyway. Then fail. Then try. It’s the optimism of being a clown.”
The production at La Jolla Playhouse is a touring company production from Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. The production, directed by performance artist Kim Noble, premiered there in 2024.
La Jolla Playhouse will present the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company touring production of “ha ha ha ha ha ha ha,” created and performed by Julia Masli, July 28 through August 9. (Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company)
Masli said the show grew out of her disillusionment with show business.
“All of this talk about industry and agents and auditions, I was like ‘Whatever,’” she recalled. “Let me just call my show ‘ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.’ I’m doing it because I’m having fun. What’s the point of choosing a job? I might as well have fun. I’m not doing it to get rich.
“It came from a need to enjoy and to not worry so much about what people think. Just do you. When I accepted that I found freedom.”
When Masli began workshopping the show she wasn’t certain that it would be the audience-centric experience it’s become.
“I didn’t set out to make it anything,” she said. “I wish I’d had the skill of writing it and doing it exactly as I wrote it, but a lot of it happened by developing with the audience over many shows.
“It’s a constant surprise. I’m still figuring it out after having it done it for three years. I’m very grateful because I feel like it’s more than me doing a show. It’s how far can I take this? How far can I go with this person? How much of a connection can I have?”
If you’re in a “ha ha ha ha ha ha ha” audience and you don’t want to be part of the show, Masli recommends you just put your head down and she won’t call on you.
“I absolutely don’t want to be picked if I was to come to my show,” she said with a laugh, then added more seriously: “I have a lot of compassion for these people. Even if you don’t want to (participate), it’s OK. You’re welcome.”
She has encountered performances, whether in theaters or in basements, where audience members are reticent.
“If I do a monthlong run, of course there will be shows that are quieter,” she said. “What I’m still learning is that if they’re quiet they want to be quiet, so the show might be more gentle. Then maybe someone will share something and it can become a really moving show.
“I’m happy to be with them as they are. If someone falls asleep, that’s a positive. Anything that can happen is great. I accept it.”
‘ha ha ha ha ha ha ha’
When: Opens Tuesday and runs through Aug. 9. 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays; 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays; 6:30 p.m. Sundays
Where: La Jolla Playhouse’s Mandell Weiss Forum, 2910 La Jolla Village Drive, UCSD, La Jolla
Tickets: $39 and up
Phone: 858-550-1010
Online: lajollaplayhouse.org