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