COTTAGE GROVE – David Jones and Blaze Birge, a married couple who founded the Flynn Creek Circus 20 years ago in Anderson Valley, Calif., had their own international trapeze act, but recently put that aside for something less dangerous – they throw knives at each other, and Blaze even throws with both hands.
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It was adults-only night on Saturday night as Cottage Grove residents packed the Big Top at Bohemia Park for the Flynn Creek Circus, which featured some amazing acrobatics, pole diving, comedy, live music and even some burlesque. Julien Silliau is shown above with his wife, Emilie, and their good friends Tom Proneur and Alluana Ribeiro. In 2020, Silliau created his own company called CollectifA4.
It’s been a lot safer than the trapeze act – so far, at least.
“We had 20 years of traveling internationally to places like Russia, Germany and China – and the conditions weren’t always the safest,” Jones said during intermission Saturday night at Bohemia Park. “We had a couple of spills, but only one broken bone – Blaze broke her hip, so we got out of it relatively, mildly safe. So it was a good run for us.”
BOB WILLIAMS / THE CHRONICLE
Now, they spend most of their time directing, producing, choreographing and mentoring new performers.
Birge said it’s a constant struggle to find the perfect mix of people they need for their traveling Big Top. They need to have the talent, charisma and personality to fit in with the group.
One of the most popular characters is mime comic Bobo, whose real name is Justin Therrien.
How did he perfect his craft (which he refers to as “a Penn and Teller kind of thing”)?
“Bobo only talks through his partner, Nikki Laumb, the host,” he said. “There’s been a lot of (screwing) up on stage, a lot of stumbling around, I’m not the sharpest guy. … I’m glad it’s working out.”
This is Therrien’s second year with Flynn Creek, but he says he’s been doing his same character for 12-13 years. “Bobo is a new name for this year, though,” he said.
He said his character was partly inspired by the Marx Brothers.
“I love the Marx Brothers. Harpo is my favorite,” Therrien said. “I’ll never forget Harpo’s classic mirror scene with Lucille Ball (from “Duck Soup”).”
Even though Bobo doesn’t speak, he makes it clear that he’s a man who has many deep, deep thoughts:
“Every time you see a horse in a movie, they’re not really acting.”
“Did you realize that every time you paint a room, it gets smaller?”
“The audience never really stops clapping, the distance between the claps just gets longer.”
The primary mission of Flynn Creek Circus is to “increase access to the performing arts in rural communities through partnerships with arts organizations and family service organizations.”
So maybe they can be forgiven for getting just a little bit “dirty” Saturday night.
Apprentice awardees Matt and Lorynne of Canada were big crowd favorites.
With seven shows over the weekend, only Saturday night’s show was for adults only. So the sold-out audience received a healthy dose of humor and burlesque mixed in with their world-class circus performers.
And yes, there were a couple of jokes that can’t be printed here – but only a couple. Two guys went around the room charging $5 a pop to get spanked, and that’s about as risque as it got. Still, you got the feeling that Cirque du Soleil is a job, while Flynn Creek Circus is an adventure.
“It’s a blast, everybody has a really good time here,” Birge said.
“We really enjoy this lifestyle, and we really enjoy this work,” Jones said. “It’s very hard, and also very fulfilling.”
The music of Sgt. Splendor certainly made the night more splendid. Eric McFadden, who has played guitar for the likes of Angry Babies, Liar, Stockholm Syndrome and Anders Osborne, teamed up with Kate Vargas to keep the groove going all evening. If you had to pick out one highlight, it had to be Vargas’ sultry blues song “Nothing Turns My Lock.”
Judging by the reactions of the sellout crowd, Flynn Creek Circus delivered the perfect combination.
