Mitch Jones is a creative director, physical performer and skilled arts worker with a multi-disciplinary career spanning three decades. Jones started training and performing circus aged 15, before studying Social Theory at the University of Melbourne and Theatre and Performance at Monash University.
As a performer he has worked in a range of forms, including traditional and promenade theatre, clown, puppetry, sideshow, street performance, live art and circus. As professional unusualist and daredevil Captain Ruin he has toured and performed extensively since 2011. Notable credits include hosting the main circus stage at the Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performance (2015/2016), escaping from a straitjacket while hanging upside down from a 24m crane for the opening of Sydney Festival (2018) and appearing in the 2023 season of America’s Got Talent: AllStars.
Jones’ company work includes training with La Fura Dels Baus director Younes Bachir in the Andante Project 2009—2012, working as a core member of Snuff Puppets (2011—2015), performing the lead character in Circus Oz’s touring production of Model Citizens (2017—2019), and playing Green Clown in Slava’s Snowshow during their 2023 Australian tour.
In 2018 he founded Oozing Future, a new physical theatre company focused on using compelling and experimental performance to create conversations about aesthetic and political ideas. In 2019, they premiered AutoCannibal, a dark clown show exploring self-harm and climate change, created in collaboration with director Masha Terentieva (Cirque Du Soleil, the 7 Fingers). Supported by Creative Victoria, it was described as ‘original, bold and disturbingly amusing … this is must see theatre’ by TheatrePress. AutoCannibal has gone on to play at Sydney Festival (2021) and Darwin Festival (2022), cementing Jones’ reputation as a creator of excellent and innovative physical performance.
In 2021 he was given an Artistic Fellowship from Circus Oz, which he used to begin research for Oozing Future’s new ensemble show, Apocrypha – which will premiere at Northcote Town Hall in 2024 after receiving funding from Creative Australia.
