Wishing you a Merry Christmas!

We're taking a well-needed Christmas break right now but normal blog service will resume in the New Year!

In the meantime, why not flick through our review of the year...
* Part One
* Part Two
* Part Three
* Part Four
* Part Five

Don't forget that we start the new decade with Hugh taking a trip with 360 to the Sydney Festival (22 to 30 Jan) followed by visits to Oxford Playhouse (3 March) and Liverpool Everyman (4 to 6 March). Full details are here.

From everyone at Hoipolloi, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

See you in 2010!

Shon, Steffi, Simon, Sylvia, Marike and of course, Hugh!
And thank you to alicepopkorn for the photo.

And a partridge in a pear tree!

Finally, we've made it to the end of the week and the end of the year! A huge thank you to everyone who's seen a Hoipolloi show this year. And if you've missed anything, you can read about it in part one, part two, part three and part four!

OCTOBER

October was the changing rooms month when we switched everything around in the office. This involved some fun day trips, including one to the dump. It was here that Simon and I rescued the following books from the paper recycling bin: Sebastian Faulks' Charlotte Gray; Industry and Empire by E.J. Hobsbawn; The Path to Genocide by Christopher R. Browning; Safe Outback Travel by Jack Absalom and The Holocaust in History by Michael R. Marrus.

NOVEMBER

Hugh toured Story of a Rabbit with Aled, and learnt to tweet. I’ve never seen anyone throw themselves into twitter with such enthusiasm. Do check out our twitter stream for Hugh’s wonderful musings.

While Hugh was obsessed with twitter, my attention was focused on Cate Blanchett’s dress and my appetite was mainly keen on cake.

Oh, and the reason I mentioned Cate Blanchett's dress was because we won another award! Floating picked up Best Live Theatre from Australia's The Age paper.

DECEMBER

The best thing to have happened so far this month has to have to been the announcement that 360 will be touring in the New Year – Sydney, Oxford and Liverpool, prepare yourselves!

If you haven't seen it already, we've prepared this little trailer for the show!




As well as getting everything sorted for the tour, Simon and I were involved in the 24 Hour Plays at the ADC, which was a lot of fun indeed. And Simon's spent several occasions this year telling our arts world colleagues about we keep up communcation with you guys via the internet.
As you can see it’s been a great year for Hoipolloi and we’d like to thank you all for reading the blog, seeing the shows, sending us emails and generally being fantastic.

And to sing out the year in good cheer, and in the absence of the Hoipolloi staff doing so, here are the muppets (with the help of John Denver) to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!





Posted by Marieke Audsley (Marketing & Admin Assistant, Hoipolloi). Thanks to G-hat for the photo.

Two turtle doves...

There's an obvious focus to today's part of our review of the year... the ridiculously busy month of August plus we manage to squeeze in September too! If you've missed any of the earlier posts, here you can find part one, part two and part three.

AUGUST

Literally masses of fun things happened while we were in Edinburgh.

We had some sell-out performances, some excellent reviews, one really not so good review, The Doubtful Guest was nominated for a Total Theatre Award, 360 won a Three Weeks Editor’s Award, Shon featured in a HUGE interview in The Scotsman and we all saw lots of excellent shows.

Definitely worth a mention is My Name is Sue, which all of the Hoipolloi team saw and enjoyed. Although David definitely deserves the title ‘most obsessed My Name is Sue fan’. I lost count of how many times he went to see it.

It would take yonks to give you a blow by blow account of everything that happened in Edinburgh, so in neat, bullet point form, here is a list of the top anecdotes from the street team:

* One day in the Courtyard I was proposed to by a man. He asked whether I’d marry him if he bought tickets to see ‘360’. I said ‘of course’, willing to do almost anything to make people see 360. The man then produced two tickets, which he had bought earlier. So I guess I’m engaged then.

* Chris flyered someone who seemed quite interested but then said, "Oh, the time doesn't quite work for me. I've got badminton at six."

* A very inebriated punter wandered into the Pleasance Two dressing room, helped himself to NIE's costume rack and came out holding a megaphone and wearing a Russian policeman's hat and a pair of fluffy knickers.

* Chris got picked out of the audience during a show and found himself doing press-ups on stage, with Denise Van Outen standing over him singing 'Let's Get Physical'.

* A friend of David’s drunkenly pointed her finger into a woman's face and shouts, "You're Gillian McKeith!" It is not Gillian McKeith. It is a not-very-famous actress who is extremely offended that my friend didn't know who she was. Actress shouts as David’s friend. Five minutes later, actress goes back to shout at her some more. Five minutes after that we send someone to ask if she knows any good recipes for lentil soup.

* David flyers a couple who seem really interested in the show. "Where is it?", they ask. "Pleasance Two!", David exclaimed and pointed rather over-excitedly behind him, poking a man directly in the face. It was Simon Amstell.

* David flyers a man with two sons. Conversation as follows:

Father: Sounds interesting. Is it suitable for these two?
David: Yes, absolutely.
Father: So there's no tits or fannies in it?
David: Um... no. It's not really that kind of show.
Father: Oh, OK. Because I have two thirteen year old boys with me, so if you'd said there were tits and fannies in it, they'd have probably become a lot more enthusiastic. It sounds good though, maybe we'll come along.
David: Great, see you there.
Son 1: Dad, when are we meeting Mum and the knobs?
Father: They're not 'knobs', they're your younger siblings.

And if all that weren't enough, here's a fantastic little snippet of Hugh Hughes' pre-show warm-up routine...




SEPTEMBER

September saw the first ever ‘What’s in a Name?’ award for the best show titles listed on the CVs of actors who have sent their details to us at Hoipolloi.

The nominees were:

* Daisy and the washing up gloves
* The Christmas Chimney Pot Plot
* This is a Chair
* Incest and plastic surgery
* Captain Cholesterol and the Grannies from Mars
* Princess Plimsole
* Seasonal Sauce
* Cowardly Custard
* Quidditch Adventure
* Wot No Condoms!
* The Uggs
* Orgasm: the musical
* Scandalous! The musical
* The Lazy Ant
* Mission Possible
* The Pumpkin Eater.

Posted by Marieke Audsley (Marketing & Admin Assistant, Hoipolloi). Thanks to paparutzi for the photo

Three French Hens...

We're really storming through the year now! If you've just arrived at the party, we're reviewing the year and here you can find part one and part two.

JUNE

Hugh and Aled returned to the UK after their American tour. It was officially a smash hit with more lovely comments: one review, on the Charleston City Paper's Spoleto Buzz Blog, began with these words:"Hugh Hughes made me cry. It's a good thing".

The same blog also named Story of a Rabbit the best show at the festival, calling it "pitch-perfect theater". The Lantern said: "some in the audience were left with tears in their eyes, while others had smiles on their faces". The best comment though has to be in a review in the Charleston SC newspaper which urged people to go and see Story of a Rabbit with a wonderfully Hugh-ish call to arms: "embrace it, and remember that Life IS spectacular!"

Not quite everyone agreed though, and critic Tim Page got a bit of an ear-bashing from audience members who disagreed with his not so charming review of the show!

When one tour ends, there’s always the risk that there will be an empty hole left, and a sad cry for more performances. Fortunately June wasn’t just the end of the USA tour but also the month when it was announced that Hoipolloi would be taking not one, but TWO shows to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. This is one of my favourite of David’s blogs, mainly because of the insanely cute picture of a cat in a bag.

As if things couldn’t get more exciting than the Edinburgh announcement and the cat photo, June also revealed that The Scotsman listed both The Doubtful Guest and 360 in its Top 100 shows to see at the Fringe feature.

JULY

Of course July was mainly focused on gearing up for Edinburgh, but one of the fold, Ben Frimston, was busy being a television star… Ben has performed in Hoipolloi’s last five ensemble shows, but somehow managed to find time to appear in a Rowntree’s Randoms advert.



And if that video wasn't enough, David made his video debut with Simon as they selected the winners of our little competition for Edinburgh tickets...



Other highlights of the month included the arrival of the 360 badges and Hugh’s performance at Latitude.

Posted by Marieke Audsley (Marketing & Admin Assistant, Hoipolloi). Thanks to LizJones112 for the photo

Four calling birds...

Welcome to day two of our special round up of 2009, undoubtedly Hoipolloi's busiest ever year. I worked out earlier that this year we've worked on 5 full shows plus 1 show in development and 1 mini-project. Wow! And if you missed it, part one of our round-up is here.

APRIL

Still on tour and making new discoveries…Simon made a note of all of the places in Tasmania which have connections to the UK: Brighton, Kettering, Launceston, Tamar, Swansea, Melton Mowbray, Richmond, Ross.

Although there was also plenty of fun to be had back in Cambridge, especially with Steffi’s word of the week podcast. One of the highlights was ‘truculent’, which apparently Steffi originally associated with truffles and toffee. Yum!

Amazing April also saw the 100th blog post, and Hugh announced the title for his new show…360.

As if all this wasn’t enough, Hoipolloi took part in the Made In England celebrations for St George’s Day. Made In England was a special artistic adventure assembled by the BBC and Arts Council England, which took place all over the country on Thursday 23rd April.

Hoipolloi led The Full English, which involved a performance in front of Milton Keynes Theatre, a double-decker bus journey to Luton, performances on a commuter train travelling from Luton to St. Pancras and a final performance at St. Pancras itself, alongside a choir of school children singing a new national anthem composed for the day.

MAY

This was the month when David’s post was advertised as up for grabs and I got terribly excited and wrote a letter begging Hoipolloi to pick me. I thought I’d scuppered my chances when I had to ask to move my interview date due to one of my final exams. Luckily Simon, Louise and David very kindly let me come on another day.

I was so nervous that as I crossed the road to get to the office I tripped over on my brand new shoes, looking like a fool in front of all of the pedestrians on Mill Road. Oops. Although I must have done something right in the interview as a few weeks later Simon rang to offer me the job. Hurrah!

While Simon, Louise and David were busy interviewing keen beans like me, Hugh and Aled were wowing audiences with Story of a Rabbit. They got some lovely reviews, too. The Charleston SC Newspaper's review described the show as one "that links the audience together with laughter, song and tears" whilst the Charleston City Paper enthused, "you're going to be talking about how inventive and charming it is for the rest of the festival."

Posted by Marieke Audsley (Marketing & Admin Assistant, Hoipolloi). Thanks to Ansik for the photo

Five Gold Rings...

Welcome to the Hoipolloi Advent Blog! It is the final week in the office before we all take a break to enjoy the delights of Christmas and New Year so we thought we should do something special.

Instead of five gold rings, you get five blog posts this week. Lucky you! As it is the end of the year I thought it would be fitting to do a nice little round up of 2009. Of course I only joined the team in August, so I have trawled through all of David’s posts from January to July in order to get the low down on all of the exciting things that happened before I rocked up. So this is in effect, the Hoipolloi blog 2009 ‘digested’; if you didn’t get a chance to follow the whole thing this year, then do not despair, the key events will be reported right here...

JANUARY

Hugh was a busy bee performing The Wonderful World of Hugh Hughes at The Junction in Cambridge. We are big fans of The Junction here at Hoipolloi and we can highly recommend Gomito’s Christmas show, A Merry Little Christmas, which is being performed there at the mo.

Hugh also performed sneak previews of his new show Invisible Town at the Barbican in London. As I wasn’t there I’m afraid I can’t fill you in on the intimate details of the performance. Although I will take this opportunity to say how much I enjoy following the yellow line which takes you from the tube station to the Barbican. It always makes me feel a little bit like Dorothy following the yellow brick road in The Wizard of Oz.

FEBRUARY

February was a month of great adventures with Hugh, Aled and Sioned flying to Singapore, where Hugh and Aled performed Story of a Rabbit at the National Museum. Meanwhile, back in Blighty, Shon starred in a Radio 4 documentary about limericks. The show was put together by the performance poet John Hegley. John introduced Shon with the following lovely lines...

Shon Dale-Jones
Who write and directs and who hones
Works for the stage
Which inform and engage
And his company Hoipolloi have used some of Edward lear's limericks in the creation of a biographical drama.

MARCH

More exciting travels for the gang, with performances across Australia, including Floating at the incredible Sydney Opera House. At the same time, we revived the classic My Uncle Arly in London and Los Angeles and ended up with a time where both shows were on stage at exactly the same time!

When Hugh and the crew zipped over to Melbourne they experienced an earthquake during the tech rehearsal of Floating. Luckily it was only a little one, lasting for about thirty seconds but poor Tom was caught up on a rickety balcony at the time.

To round things off, here's a video of Hugh Hughes' day trip to Anglesea (that's the one near Melbourne, Australia and not Hugh's homeland in Wales!). We'll see you back here tomorrow for the next installment...

Posted by Marieke Audsley (Marketing & Admin Assistant, Hoipolloi). Thanks to Jerry 7171 for the photo

Plans...

The sun is shining, it is Friday afternoon, and the smell of mulled wine being brewed for the festive season is about, but Simon and I are being very good and working hard, in spite of the potential distractions (I do like a good glass of mulled wine). As you may have seen on Simon's last post we have announced some more dates for 360, so if you missed it in Edinburgh then Spring is the chance to book in for 70 joyful minutes with Hugh Hughes either in Sydney, Oxford or Liverpool.

Simon has very bravely (or maybe 'foolishly', would be more appropriate) handed over the majority of the responsibility for the marketing of the show over to me. As 'the intern', I feel very honoured to be promoted like this, and to give you an insight into my new daily life, and to prove that we do more in the Hoipolloi office than drink tea, eat cake, and discuss red carpet fashion, here's a lowdown of how the 360 plans are going...

Our venues are booked and contracts sorted. Even though the performances aren't for a few months, all the legal stuff - pages with clauses, and lots of jargon - get signed way in advance to ensure the venue and company know exactly what the deal is. I've never been very good with big legal words, and still haven't perfected my 'official' signature, so Simon deals with the contracts.

In order to spread the word we'll need literally thousands of posters and flyers. Liverpool and Oxford - watch out for the iconic blue clouds and face of Hugh on the 360 posters hitting you soon! We are using similar print to Edinburgh, although we need to ask our designers to make some alterations to the venue and performance dates. Otherwise we would end up with rather a few confused audience members looking for Hugh at the Pleasance Courtyard in March. We're also changing the quotes on the publicity. Some lovely things were written by the press in the summer, and we're so proud that we want to put them on our flyers, and that way you can see them too. Once the designs have been finalised they can be sent to the printers and from the printers the publicity will go to the venues. In order to give people time to notice the posters, check their diaries and book tickets, we usually send print out a few months before the performances.

We always like to let friends of Hugh know directly that he will be performing again. So he has been writing some letters, and I have started writing some letters, and sometimes the venues will also send out letters too. We love email, but you can't beat a nice bit of snail mail can you?

Something else we are very keen on this time round is creating an education pack for drama teachers and students. I was mightily inspired by the ones offered by the marvellous National Theatre, so I've started making a 360 one myself. In order to get a bit of extra help from some experts I'll be visting the education department at the Everyman in a few weeks. I've never been to Liverpool before, so I'm very excited about having an adventure. I'll have quite a lot of time to kill after my meeting and before I get my train back to Cambridge, so if anyone has any 'top tips for what to do in Liverpool' then do let me know!

So there you have it, the update so far. I'll keep you informed as plans progress.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Photo by Geraint Lewis

New UK dates for 360

Just a quick blog post from a dark and wet Wednesday evening in Cambridge!

I will leave Marieke to do a far more interesting post on Friday when she's back in the office but for today, I wanted to let you know that we've just announced some further touring for Hugh Hughes in... 360.

In addition to a return to Australia to perform at the Sydney Festival (performances from 22 to 30 January 2010), we'll also be doing shows back in the UK in early March with a return to both Oxford Playhouse (3 March) and the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool (4 to 6 March).

We haven't had a chance to update the main website with these new dates but full details can be found either by clicking the individual links above or they're posted at the top of the right-hand bar of this blog.

Ok, sales message over. You can get back to your normal routine!

Posted by Simon Bedford (Producer, Hoipolloi)

AMA Digital Day

Good evening! It is Sunday night, X Factor is on TV (I don't think I really care about any of the final 5 although if I'm honest I think it's definitely time Lloyd left. Isn't it?) and I'm here tapping away a little blog entry.

This is preparation for my presentation to the Arts Marketing Association's Digital Marketing Day tomorrow afternoon. I'm pretty excited as this is my first big London gig at Sadler's Wells no less. Anyway, if you're reading this on Monday after I've spoken, I hope it was useful!

So, here are the videos I'm going to need for the presentation, plus a few more bits and pieces that you might find useful.

VIDEO ONE



VIDEO TWO



And some other bits and pieces for you:

Hoipolloi on Twitter
Hoipolloi on Facebook
Hugh Hughes on Facebook
Our YouTube channel
Our audioboos

And a couple more videos for you:






EDIT: Wed 2 December

CJ from PCM Creative qik'd my presentation, which you can view here if you have a spare 43mins. Always slightly cringy to watch yourself back, so I won't be viewing it in too much detail although was pleased with how it all went on Monday!



Posted by Simon Bedford (Producer, Hoipolloi)

Neon, brains and cake

I was most intrigued by Hugh’s recent ‘tweet’ about fluorescent clothing sales. In fact I thought I might be able to work this trend in with my ‘bed-linen chic’ collection. Sadly my trawling through news websites didn’t offer many neon revelations, although I did stumble across something else fascinating. Now I know I’ve been guilty of straying away from topic recently, taking what is essentially a theatre blog into the realms of fashion and gastronomy, however I am going to remedy this immediately with some very relevant news regarding what happens to an actor’s brain when they play a role. It’s fascinating stuff I promise...

Fiona Shaw recently had an MRI scan to assist with some brain research in London. This was very brave of Fiona. I had an MRI scan recently and can tell you that it is not at all pleasant. You get strapped down so that you can’t move and then shoved into a big tube which makes strange noises. Terrifying. Although you do get a picture of your brain at the end, which is rather exciting.

While Fiona was having her scan she recited some lines from T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land. Personally I would’ve gone for a splash of Spike Milligan to keep my sprits up while stuck in the scary tube, but hey, each to their own. The results of the scan showed a few things. Firstly, that Fiona used more areas of the brain when reciting poetry than when counting. Good. Also, that she used the part of the brain called the ‘infra parietal sulkus’ . To me this sounds like the name of a dinosaur, but what do I know about brains? Or dinosaurs for that matter. Anyway, Wikipedia tells me that the ‘infra parietal sulkus’ is associated with memory, analysis and doing a complex transformation of a visual image. Interestingly, when they are acting, actors use a part of the brain to create a voice which is different to the part of the brain we usually use when we speak. So that’s what happens inside an actor’s brain when they’re on stage! Aren’t you glad that’s been cleared up?

The results of the experiment and other similar ones will be displayed in an exhibition on identity at the Wellcome trust. If you haven’t already been, the Wellcome Collection is WELL worth a visit. (Please excuse the horrendous joke. I just couldn’t help myself). It is a fascinating place and the cafe there is fantastic. In fact I’m going to take this moment for a bit of cake news (now a regular item on the blog): the Wellcome cafe has some of the most gorgeous cupcakes your eyes and taste buds may ever have the pleasure of enjoying.

Righty – o, from brains and cake back to our very own Hugh Hughes:

You can see him. Tonight! He is performing the marvellous ‘360’ at the Drum Theatre in Plymouth until November 28th.

Don’t forget that he’s also going to be in Sydney in the New Year. Last time he visited tickets were snapped up like hot cakes (cough, wink, cough) so make sure you visit http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/ to grab yours in good time.

One final note before I depart for now... I am delighted to share the news that Hugh will be performing 360 at the Oxford Playhouse on March 3rd 2010. Although my heart lies with Cambridge, Oxford is pretty lovely too. Why don’t you book yourself a ticket and make a fun trip to Oxford for some punting and a wander around the Ashmolean or Magdalene College’s deer park? You can’t beat a bit of fresh air and spot of deer spying now can you?

Thanks to My Name is Rom for this fab brain picture

Blankets and cake

Hurrah! Friday is here! The sun is shining and we are basking in the thrill of Hugh and Sioned’s award. For those of you who missed yesterday’s post, here is the link to the full article in The Age. What they have written about Floating really is lovely, so if you have a mo, do check it out.

I know Cate Blanchett’s award caused Simon to be befuddled by the question ‘what on earth is a blanket dress?’, so I have taken it upon myself to investigate and shed a little light on the subject... Cate wore a rather jazzy dress to a snazzy red carpet event a little while ago. I’m not quite sure how to describe it in order to do the dress justice, but I will try my best:

It really is quite unique...Imagine a crocheted blanket with different coloured squares. Now imagine more colours. And more squares. Use the power of your imagination to transform this blanket into a long sleeved dress. Now cut off one of the sleeves. Add a giant black pom-pom to the wrist of the remaining sleeve. Next add some faux fur (black) to the hem. And there you have it! It does look very snugly and warm, except for the fact that one shoulder will get rather nippy. However, paired with an extra sleeve and some UGG boots, I think this outfit would help me to keep warm in chilly and blustery Cambridge. Although I’ve done a bit of research on the designers who made Cate’s dress and I don’t think it’s in my budget. Never mind. Maybe I could achieve a similar effect by attacking my duvet with a pair of scissors and a sewing machine. ‘Bed-linen chic’ will be taking off very soon no doubt. Just remember, you heard it here first.

Other hot news from Hoipolloi HQ...There are still three more performances of Story of a Rabbit at the Curve in Leicester. Are you free tonight? Tomorrow afternoon? Or tomorrow night maybe? If so, why not grab a ticket to see Hugh. If you do already have plans, do a bit of re-shuffling and wangle your diary so that you can see Hugh after all. If you’re lucky he may even make you a cup of tea during the show. Click here to book tickets.

In fact I think that is all of the ‘exciting’ news to report. News fit only for the ‘mediocrity piles’ (there is both a literal and figurative pile; one for my dull scribblings on various scraps of paper/post it notes and one for my frequent inane thoughts) include the discovery of some rather delicious wheat free Dutch apple cake in the shop across the road. The inevitable consequence of this discovery is that I have been doing a sterling job devouring said cake. In fact I think it’s time to go and grab another slice...



Thank you to ejhogbin for the lovely photograph

Another Award

Today I received the very exciting news that we've won another award! Hugh and Sioned have been rewarded for their travels down to Melbourne with Floating by being named Best Live Theatre in The Age newspaper's inaugural M-ie Awards.

The awards were announced back on the 8 November but I've only just received word from our friends at the fantastic Arts House, who were our generous hosts during Floating's time in the city.

Sadly there is no glamorous awards ceremony to attend and I'm not even sure we'll receive any form of trophy to add to the cabinet (or the awards shelf as it actually exists as). But it's a delight to form part of the highlights of the social year in Melbourne.

And I'm really impressed by the lovely write-up it's received...

"You'd need to be lacking a heart not to have fallen in love with this teeny-tiny production from Wales. Somewhere between performance art, stand-up comedy and old-fashioned storytelling, it felt like the most thoughtful and generous gift you'd ever received. From a stranger, no less."

Also commended in this category were Jersey Boys and Ontroerend Goed's Once and For All We're Gonna Tell You Who We Are So Shut up and Listen. Several of us were fans of their Internal which played in Edinburgh this year, so it feels like honourable company to reside in.

The awards are a ludicrously diverse mix 0f categories from Most In-Demand Party Guest (which went to film star Eric Bana although Dannii Minogue did get a commendation) and Best Fashion Moment (going to Cate Blanchett and her blanket dress - although I have no idea what that is!) to the seemingly more sensible Best Pub/Bar (Madame Brussels - a choice that I'd definitely agree on) and Best Coffee (which the fantastic Auction Rooms missed out on, but they're definitely worth a visit if you're heading to a show at the Arts House).

You can read the full article here, although you might have to scroll down or skip to page 4 to find us!

If you're reading this in Australia, don't forget that Hugh will be returning to Sydney (although sadly not Melbourne on this occasion) for performances of 360 at the Sydney Festival (22 to 30 Jan). Tickets for that can be booked here.

Posted by Simon Bedford [Producer, Hoipolloi]

Hugh speaks... Monday morning

Monday morning! My brother would doubtless sing the classic Boomtown Rats hit I Don’t Like Mondays if he was reading this now. He has got a really good voice too. In fact, his impression of Blondie is the best I have ever heard. When you open your eyes and see him, your mind cannot accept it. And that is a bit like the experience I had last night in Durham. Artichoke were in the city with a wide variety of artists, illuminating the city. When I woke up this morning, it was like seeing my brother, not Blondie, there out of the window. Durham had been wonderfully and magically transformed by the imaginations of these fabulous artists. And my brother and Blondie weren’t involved at all. The whole thing was dreamlike.

It made my journey south on the train this morning more colourful. First of all I heard this conversation: Tall Boy to Small Boy, “You will never know what it is like to be this size, but I know what it is like to be your size.” Small Boy to Tall Boy, “But you will never know what it is like to be this size as well as I do.” Then I saw an owl-like tree overlooking a cabbage-filled field and unused warehouses holding clouds hostage, issuing ransom fees to the farmers on tractors.

Getting off the train and onto this computer to write this blog was like waking up properly for the first time in a while. I feel like I’ve done an all-nighter…

Home alone...

Its been a busy, jet-setting week for many of the Hoipolloi team; Hugh's in Edinburgh performing Story of a Rabbit, and Simon is in London being important and inspiring (he's giving a talk to drama students). Of course someone's got to hold the fort back in Cambridge so I'm today's official 'fort-holder-upper' - a very technical term for an extremely vital post, you understand.

The exact job description is malleable, but today I have defined it as follows:

-Some routine 'quality control of refreshments': testing the new teas on the famous Hoipolloi tea shelf. It was a close battle, but after great deliberation I have reached a final decision. Green tea with mint is the new favourite, although Raspberry and Echinacea comes a close second.

-Replying to all of the lovely people who have emailed to say they've seen Story of a Rabbit. Thank you for getting in touch. We're always thrilled to hear from people who have enjoyed the shows.

-Looking wistfully out of the window at the puddle coloured clouds and fierce rain droplets beating against the windows, pondering whether to write some poetry with a melancholic tinge as I muse deep philosphical thoughts...*

-* these include - what to have for lunch. How wet I am likely to get on the cycle ride back home. And whether to see Bright Star, Fantastic Mr Fox or The Hurt Locker at the cinema this weekend.

-Being on the look out for any supernatural events. This was a last minute adidtion to today's 'to do' list which slipped on when I realised that today is Friday 13th (cue scary music for dramatic effect).

So that's what I'm up to. But if you are free tonight or tomorrow, and either in Edinburgh, or keen to visit Edinburgh - and you really should as it's a lovely city - then do go and say 'Hello' to Hugh at the Traverse Theatre.

Have a good weekend!

Thank you to iamthepinkcupcake for this lovely atmospheric photo

Hugh speaks... travelling to Edinburgh

Hello! I am very happy to write this blog. We have embarked on a short tour of STORY OF A RABBIT in the UK, five months after our tour in the USA. It is really good to be performing this show again. I really do enjoy it. Aled said, "it’s like visiting an old friend."

We'd like to say a big ‘thank you’ to everyone who has joined us so far – in Eastleigh and Cambridge - and to say we are very much looking forward to meeting our audience in Edinburgh, Leicester and Plymouth later this month.

Right now I’m travelling to Edinburgh by train. My favourite kind of transport. We’ve been through gentle rising fog and blinding bursts of sunshine. It’s remarkable to think how this ball of a planet is enveloped in so many weathers. My brother once left a leather football in the garden throughout the whole winter – when my father found it in the spring, it was deflated, sagging and discoloured. "Luckily this planet is not made of leather," Aled said and we all laughed and then imagined we were part of a giant’s game of football in Brazil. Then Tom said, "In a way, Pele is a giant."

I haven’t been to Edinburgh outside of festival time. Neither has Aled. "It’ll be the same but different," he said. "It’ll be wearing it’s winter coat," he said as he looked out of the window at Newcastle. "While Sydney is putting it’s shorts on, Edinburgh is pulling on a thick jumper," said Tom. Then he said, "I wonder if we could knit a giant jumper for Pele and present it to him as a gift at the next World Cup. A nice golden yellow one trimmed with green." Aled said we probably could but he’d be unlikely to wear it because the World Cup was taking place in South Africa and it’d be too hot.

As we get ever closer to Edinburgh I’d like to use this opportunity to say another "thank you’ to the Sydney Festival for inviting me to present 360 in January. I’m really looking forward to it.
Goodbye for now.

Hugh Hughes

[I found this lovely photo on Flickr by laurencea taken during a London to Edinburgh train journey. I'm guessing it was during the snow we had in January this year. Thought it illustrated Hugh's blog nicely. Simon]

[pps. we've just had this lovely review come in for Story of a Rabbit]

Hugh learns to Tweet and is off down under... again!

With Story of a Rabbit out on tour, there's plenty going on at the moment. And we have lots of exciting news to report as well!

First up, for those of you who follow us on Twitter, you'll have noticed that in the last 24hours a brand new voice has been joining in the conversation, our very own Hugh Hughes.

Now that he's the (very) proud owner of an iPhone (other phones are available), I've taught Hugh how it all works and he spent his journey up to Edinburgh today sharing his thoughts on the world around him.

As there will now be multiple voices sharing the Hoipolloi account, we'll try and reduce confusion by signing off each tweet with who we are! Hugh's been busy doing that today and from now onwards, I'll be adding 'SB' to the end of my tweets so you can tell whose voice is whose!

I've also taught Hugh the simplicity of audioboo and he's promised to make a least one boo during his time at the Traverse this week. I'll repost it here when he does.

Which reminds me to plug this week's performances of Story of a Rabbit. Hugh and Aled are at the Traverse from tonight (11th) until Saturday (14 Nov). Tickets can be booked by calling 0131 228 1404 or via their website.

Perhaps our most exciting news is that Hugh will be returning to Australia to perform 360 as part of the presitigous Sydney Festival from 22 to 30 January 2010.

A copy of the brochure landed in the office this morning and we'll be joined by some illustrious company from the UK... Edinburgh Comedy Award-winner Tim Key, Isy Suttie (from Peep Show), a charming family show from Oxford Playhouse and Rupert Goold's acclaimed Six Characters in Search of an Author.

I've heard via Twitter that tickets are already flying out the door for Hugh's limited season (just 8 perfs) so if you're in Sydney or know someone there who should go, get them to the box office swiftly!

Details of how to book and the full festival programme can be found by clicking here.

And my final plea, if you've been to see Story of a Rabbit, why not share your thoughts by commenting here on the blog, visiting our Facebook groups (Hoipolloi or Hugh Hughes) or via the delights of a tweet. Thank you!

Posted by Simon Bedford (Producer, Hoipolloi)

Have your say...

Have you just seen Story of a Rabbit? Why not get in touch and let us know what you thought. There are a whole host of ways to engage with what we're up to!

Someone who saw the show last night in Eastleigh messaged us via Twitter to say "Hugh Hughes was wonderful (as always)... He makes me laugh and cry at exactly the same time!".

Just add @hellohoipolloi into your tweets and we'll spot them (or in fact, just mentioning Hugh Hughes often catches our eye!).

If you're not a fan of Twitter, why not comment on this blog with your thoughts or head to our Facebook pages - here is Hugh's and here is Hoipolloi's.

Someone wrote this on our wall earlier...

"Saw "Story of a Rabbit" at Eastleigh Theatre last night. Hugh Hughes is a highly original and talented performer. The show was genius - comic, reflective, moving, evolved and original. Thanks Hugh"

Or you can send us a slightly old-fashioned email if you'd like! Just drop a note to info@hoipolloi.org.uk and it'll make it's way through to us.

Finally, if you'd like to get a little closer and receive regular email updates from us, you can sign up to the mailing list here.

Daniel Kitson recommends Story of a Rabbit

We've been a little quiet on the blog front recently but we've suddenly sprung into action with two posts already this week, and here's a third for you! I hadn't planned this one but a pleasant surprise arrived in my inbox this morning and I wanted to share it with you!

The Hoipolloi office has long been a fan of Mr Daniel Kitson and his fabulous work both in stand-up and his story-telling shows.

We also know that Daniel has popped in to see a couple of Hugh Hughes' shows during the last couple of Edinburgh Fringes and we're really grateful that he shared the following paragraph with his email list this week...

"...also, here is a little tip for you good people of edinburgh and the surrounding regions, Story of a Rabbit, a lovely show that i saw during the festival of 2008 is at the traverse theatre for 4 nights in november, i think its the 11th to the 14th, but im typing this on a train and the internet connection isnt great. i mean, its still pretty good, considering im on a bloody train. still. its all relative. anyway, i very strongly recommend seeing it. it was something of an influence on my more recent stuff and its brilliant. funny and sad and lovely."

Thank you for such an exciting recommendation. I know that Hugh was touched to find out that the show provided some influence on your work. And a reminder that we're not just playing in Edinburgh (at the Traverse) but also at the Point in Eastleigh, Cambridge Arts Theatre and the CURVE in Leicester. Full details here!

And as it'd be rude not to return the favour, if you haven't seen a Daniel Kitson show, go see one, immediately!

Following this link will take you (eventually if you keep scrolling down) to a list of where he's playing his stand-up show in November in the UK (if they haven't already sold-out). And also, as I know we have Australian visitors here, you can also catch him at Sydney Opera House from the end of November into December with 66a Church Road.

Some recommendations

Yesterday afternoon I found myself with a glass of mulled wine in hand and stood watching the gentle falling of snowflakes through the air. But I wasn't going mad, nor had I drifted into Narnia.

I was in fact at The Junction, here in Cambridge, for the launch of their Christmas offering, appropriately titled, A Merry Little Christmas. It's actually being created by the lovely folk at Gomito, another Cambridge-based company.

They've always been very supportive of our activities here at Hoipolloi and I was delighted to finally make it to one of their other shows before the launch. If you have kids (or even if you don't!) look out for The Night Keeper, which is touring to a few places before mid-November. I thought it was wonderfully enchanting!

Finally, next week's a busy week for interesting and exciting theatre here in Cambridge. Not only will Story of a Rabbit be calling into the Arts Theatre (have you booked your tickets yet?), but Told by An Idiot will be stopping by The Junction with their new show, The Fahrenheit Twins.

Adapted from Michel Faber's original tale, it's an enthralling story of two siblings living with their parents on a remote artic exploration station. Lyn Gardner at the Guardian gave it 4stars so it comes highly recommended.

Finally finally, don't forget we've added an extra Hoipolloi Master Class in as the first sold-out! It'll be at The Junction on Sunday 13 December from 12noon to 7pm. Places cost £35 and are available from 01223 511511 (as indeed are tickets for A Merry Little Christmas and The Fahrenheit Twins).

Selling Out, Adding In

Things are about to get spectacularly busy here at Hoipolloi. Hugh will be commencing his latest Story of a Rabbit UK tour next Monday and there's plenty of other activity to report on too!

We mentioned back in September about our forthcoming Master Class at The Junction, here in Cambridge, on Sat 12 December. This has now officially SOLD OUT! Thank you to everyone who's booked themselves in.

However, don't be too disappointed if you intended to book but didn't get a chance! We're giving you a second chance to come along. We have now added a further master class the following day on Sunday 13 December. This time it runs from 12noon until 7pm and is once again at The Junction.

There was already a waiting list for Saturday places so if you'd like to come along, I'd get yourself booked in for the Sunday pretty quick. Places cost £35 and are available by calling 01223 511 511.

And if you're in Cambridge next week, don't forget that Hugh will be performing his award-winning hit, Story of a Rabbit at Cambridge Arts Theatre on Wednesday & Thursday (4 & 5 Nov). Get your tickets here!

If you can't make it to Cambridge, he's also heading to Eastleigh (2 & 3 Nov), Edinburgh (11 to 14 Nov) and Leicester (18 to 21 Nov). To round the tour off, Hugh will be performing new show, 360, in the Drum Theatre Plymouth from 24 to 28 Nov.

Right, sales pitch over! Although from the outside it's been pretty quiet here at Hoipolloi since our return from Edinburgh, I can promise you we've been extra busy planning an exciting 2010.

I have some exciting news to announce in a couple of weeks (it's currently embargoed so I'm afraid no amount of bribery will make me spill the beans). And then we'll be drip-feeding you further announcements as we head into the new year!

I'm hoping that Hugh will be able to provide some updates on his tour over the next few weeks but in the meantime, here's a quick reminder of Story of a Rabbit...

Affected by the Effects

The 'big move' is complete and the office has been officially turned upside down. Simon and I are very happy with our shiny new desk, glossy blue floor and big windows. In fact we're so happy we think we may even be working a bit harder. Although not hard enough to avoid a brief peek at what the oracle Wikipedia has to say about the effect of changing your office space...

After some extremely thorough research we are pretty convinced that we are prime examples of both the Hawthorne effect and the Pygmalion effect. "What are these?, tell us more!" I hear you cry. Well...

The term 'Hawthorne effect' was coined by Henry A. Landsberger in 1955 when he was studying some experiments held at the Hawthorne Works in Chicago in the 1920s-early 1930s.

Hawthorne Works commissioned a study to see whether their workers would work more or less productively in different levels of light. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the higher the level of light, the more productive the workers. Other changes examined included keeping work stations clean, getting rid of obstacles on the floor and moving workstations. Here at Hoipolloi HQ all these changes have taken place, and we are sure we're working harder, although maybe this is a result of the Pygmalion effect....

The Pygmalion effect refers to the phenomenon of placing a greater expectation on someone, in order to make them perform better. Perhaps we're just expecting to work harder because we've perused the world wide web and become enlightened about the Hawthorne effect, which has now smoothly taken us directly under the influence of the Pygmalion effect...

But now I'm just confused, so, moving swiftly onwards to certain territory, the really exciting news for this weekend is that...drum roll please....

Hugh Hughes will be performing his award winning show, 360, at the New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich on Sunday. If you are nearby, or fancy a jolly Sunday evening outing to Ipswich we would love to see you at the show. You can book tickets by clicking here.

Exciting days out...

"Upside down, and inside out"; it's all change here at Hoipolloi HQ as we switch the office around, moving downstairs upstairs and upstairs downstairs. We've been battling with deconstructing large pieces of Swedish furniture and carrying them down our precarious spiral staircase, discovering a hoard of old CDs which have prompted a great deal of reminiscing over school discos, and been on a couple of very glamorous days out...

In order to build the new desk for upstairs we travelled to the enormous emporium of Ridgeons where we realised that choosing which wood is good wood - for building desks - is harder than we originally anticipated. The matter was further complicated by the fact that the measurements were far from what we had expected, so we needed to ask a nice man to cut the sheets up into smaller pieces in order to fit them into the car. Other vital choices made on Tuesday included which colour wood varnish to purchase, and which colour floor paint. We went for clear satin for the former and steel blue for the latter, for those who are interested.

Today Simon and I travelled even further afield in order to dispose of the old carpet (for anyone who has any pent up frustration...ripping carpet up from the floor is very soothing by the way). We leapt into the car and motored over to the skip (somewhere near the Cambridge business park, I'm still not exactly sure where but there were some nice fields around). We only narrowly avoided disaster as we approached the gate and saw that they were locking up for the day, but fortunately Simon managed to charm the man into allowing us through and we were in! Then a mad dash to dispose of everything in the boot took place. Who knows of we got the correct skip, but we have saved ourselves from ever seeing the manky old carpet ever again.

Just as we were about to leave we noticed something tempting lurking in the paper recycling bin...a stack of old books. With only seconds to go before we were locked in and trapped in the yard until the morning, we hastily grabbed as many as we could, rescuing an armful of books from inevitable destruction.

The haul includes...

Sebastian Faulks' Charlotte Gray

Industry and Empire by E.J. Hobsbawn

The Path to Genocide by Christopher R. Browning

Safe Outback Travel by Jack Absalom

and The Holocaust in History by Michael R. Marrus

I'll be taking Charlotte Gray home with me for sure, but if anyone desires any of the other works, just let me know and we can see if we can re-home them.

Thanks to Jacob Whittaker for the photo

What's in a Name - The CV Awards

During the process of updating our records I came across many CVs listing fantastic show names. Too good not to share, I have created the ‘What’s in a Name?’ Award: It is with great pleasure that I announce the all time top ten show titles discovered in the Hoipolloi filing cabinet. As a new award we don’t have a sponsor yet, so sadly no prizes on offer for the moment, but there is always the glory of winning...

In no particular order we have:
Daisy and the washing up gloves; The Christmas Chimney Pot Plot; This is a Chair; Incest and plastic surgery; Captain Cholesterol and the Grannies from Mars; Princess Plimsole; Seasonal Sauce; Cowardy Custard; Quidditch Adventure; Wot No Condoms!

Runners up include:
The Uggs; Orgasm the musical; Scandalous! The musical; The Lazy Ant; Mission Possible; The Pumpkin Eater

I was also struck by the wide range of skills many of the actors who have contacted us have. These span from face painting to playing the spoons, and even having double jointed toes. I feel my single party trick (a very pathetic card trick) will no longer cut the mustard, so I am now on the hunt for something more impressive. One very endearing mix up on a CV has inspired me to attempt to play the ‘101 Dalmations’ in a show called ‘Pongo’. I better start working on my bark...

Thanks to Cliff for the photo

The first post...

We're back! Sorry about the recent silence on the blog ...poor Simon was abandoned after Edinburgh as David moved on to pastures new (Paris - very jealous), and I took a couple of weeks to recover from the Fringe, move house, attempt to fit all of my belongings into a very small new room (like a fun spatial awareness game, with less 'fun' and more 'almost crushing myself with stacks of books') and prepare to officially join the Hoipolloi team. Today is my very first day on the job and I am trying to overcome my fear of technology and learn more advanced computer skills than writing something in Word and sending the odd email. I have been given clear instructions on 'how to do a blog entry' but there is still every chance things could go a little crazy, so apologies if the entry goes a bit haywire at some point.

Aside from getting stuck into the office's fantastic array of herbal teas, I have spent most of my first day sorting through actors' cvs. This has presented plenty of exciting learning experiences: which printer to use, filing, adding people to the database, and flexing my new email address have all been tackled. I was struck by many of the actors' 'skills' sections on their CVs, and am most intrigued by 'skin work'. I have yet to discover what this is, so if anyone knows, I would be very interested to find out.

I've also been sending emails to people about our very exciting Masterclass at The Junction. It's on Saturday 12th December and will be a great way to find out about how Hoipolloi create work. Tickets cost £35 and you can book your place by ringing The Junction's box office on 01223 511 511. Hopefully see you there!