Hoipolloi strides towards an increasingly creative and flexible future

Hoipolloi and Hugh Hughes have taken a bold step toward new creative challenges and a more flexible model of operation in a bid to help Hugh Hughes, and his stories, reach a wider audience than ever before.

Hugh Hughes has been delighting audiences since 2005. He's made five stage shows with a number of his friends and members of his family, and all of that has been possible through the support of Hoipolloi as producer, Arts Council England funds and the generosity of commissioning and presenting partners across the world.

Over the course of Hugh's nine year journey, starting out as an emerging artist right through to deciding he simply wanted to be a member of the world, Hugh has made work for stage, for radio, and digitally as video, audio, text and image. The radio adaptation of Floating won the Best Scripted Comedy BBC Audio Drama Award in 2011.

In the summer of 2013, working with National Theatre Wales, Hugh made the bold step of returning home to Anglesey to make his fifth show. Things I Forgot I Remembered exploded from the stage into nooks and crannies of Llangefni through a story walk, across libraries in a series of storyboxes, onto the pages of a specially printed newspaper, into the Dingle woods for a twilight gig and on to the high street in a specially created story shop. It was a remarkable occasion, and a fitting way to complete the circle of Hugh's achievements on stage.

Shortly after returning to Cambridge, Hoipolloi knew that it would have to make some choices about Hugh and his creative future with the company, with application dates looming for further revenue funding from its primary supporter Arts Council England. It was clear that Hugh's appetite for making work was rooted in exploring how art can make a difference to the world, and that Hugh wanted to connect with the most people possible to share stories, trigger imaginations and encourage connections. We decided to support Hugh to explore how he might work with a broader range of people, in different kinds of media. To do that, we knew that public subsidy might play a part in the business model for the company, but that we needed to increase the amount of freedom we had to explore other opportunities. So, we decided not to apply to remain in Arts Council England's National Portfolio of arts organisations.

With the support of Arts Council England, we are now working through the transition from regularly funded organisation, with an especial focus on providing Hugh the time and space he needs to develop his skills and form relationships with new producing partners.

In the meantime, whilst he's not connecting with people in arts centres and theatres across the world, Hugh is exploring what it means to connect online in a 100 day internet safari. He's sharing stories through facebook, twitter, instagram and vine, and for those who want to see everything, he's also sending a daily email. Sign up for your daily dose of Hugh and make sure you're following on your platform of choice.

Click here to sign up for your daily email: http://bit.ly/HHDailyDose

Beware of noise

In 2012, Hoipolloi and Hugh Hughes launched a new digital space – www.invisibletownstories.co.uk – that shared a multitude of stories, created by Hugh, his brother Derwyn and sister Delyth and a cast of friends. This digital collection of stories twinned a performance called Stories from an Invisible Town that toured the UK in the Autumn of 2012.

The digital space had two express intentions. Firstly, it was designed as an artistic space: it wasn't built to market the show, but to express ideas; it wasn't designed to provide information, but to provide an artistic experience. Secondly, the space was designed to adapt, to develop iteratively, in response to what we found out when people used it.

We originally had a timeframe in mind for the fifth iteration of the site (the soft launch was the fourth iteration), but when we raised this with the developer we'd worked with, and after interrogating data provided through analytics, we received a warning: beware of noise. The feeling was that there simply hadn't been enough visitors to make any useful decisions about how to develop the site, and part of being responsive is actually taking heed of the data available. So we waited. It took just over a year for as many people to visit the site as had been to see the show on tour (a tour that lasted seven weeks). In the meantime, we made a neat little hack from some of the qualitative feedback we'd had – that visitors just wanted to turn the site 'on' and not have to fiddle around to get a stream of stories – and that is still going strong as Hugh Hughes FM.

There was only one conclusion to draw from this information, and that was that we hadn't marketed the site well enough. As is often the case with small organisations, having the relevant expertise in-house is a case of pot-luck, and having the time to develop the expertise is very unlikely. It's a phenomenon that was noted by the Arts Marketing Association and the Audiences Agency recently, something that they have attempted to remedy through their Small Scale Development programme (an intensive retreat designed up upskill and begin to develop strategic marketing plans). Hoipolloi benefited from this programme.

The biggest thing to take away from the programme was confidence. We're trying to enter a new 'market', with players who've developed extraordinary tactics for capturing attention (no matter what we thing of linkbait), a market saturated with the bizarre (wet wipe phones?) and the banal (cats in tights?), a market that to try and navigate feels like playing with giants. But for all that, we believe in Hugh Hughes, that quirky, charming, offbeat character, whose perspective on the world is the perfect partner to a globally connected, social society. And that's worth all the effort to raise profiles, reach new audiences and deepen enagagement.

HOIPOLLOI NEEDS YOU! Set our content free...

 

Hoipolloi is an award-winning theatre company that exists to produce the work of Hugh Hughes. Over the last four years, alongside making two theatre shows (Stories from an Invisible Town and Things I Forgot I Remembered), Hugh has created lots of content and crammed about two hundred stories into a digital version of his childhood home at www.invisibletownstories.co.uk. This content is sitting patiently waiting for visitors to cross the threshold, when it could be out meeting new friends in all kinds of social spaces.

We're looking for... a self-starter, who knows their instagram from their pinterest, their moo from their cowbird, and who oozes with enthusiasm for online conversation. You'll need to be as interested in people as you are in social platforms, as happy talking to a stranger in a cafe as you are in creating a new vine. You'll work alone a lot, but it's important that you know the value of teamwork. You'll probably care just a teensy bit about data, and be keen to see the impact of your work, having a love-hate relationship with analytics. More than anything, you'll be adventurous, and willing to iterate your way to meaningful engagement with digital audiences.

We're offering... a bootload of content that's funny, charming and a little bit fantastical that you can get your hands on and spread into the far corners of the internet. We'll encourage you to be an explorer of the online world, a digital flaneur, and a tastemaker for your colleagues. We're a small team that cares about creativity, so you'll encounter lots of ideas, and be expected to throw your own hat into the ring. You'll be our digital vanguard, but with the support of a Digital Producer and active board. You'll have as much autonomy as you need, but we'll expect to be in the loop talking about learning, progress and surprises you've found along the way.

Check out http://bit.ly/HHrecruit for information and http://bit.ly/digicontentasst to apply.

WLTM: producer of extraordinary events!

Hoipolloi are recruiting! We're looking to meet an exciting person who will gather Hugh Hughes' newest show to their busom, shape it into a fantastic touring package, and find weird and wonderful places for Hugh to share this experience.

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to see the package of events that make 'Things I Forgot I Remembered' on Anglesey in June 2013, and reasonable expenses will be covered to enable this to happen.The events include a live theatre show, a storywalk around the town of Llangefni, screenings of Hugh Hughes films, access to material from the wide world of Hugh Hughes through storyboxes across the island and in a pop-up shop, and a live music version of the storywalk in a very special location.

'Things I Forgot I Remembered' is a co-production with National Theatre Wales.

Information can be found in the application pack on our website. If you'd like to have an informal chat with Bianca Winter, Hoipolloi's Digital Producer and Interim General Manager, about the role, please email bianca@hoipolloi.org.uk so that a mutually convenient time can be arranged.

Hello from Frankie!

Whilst Hanna is off having a baby I’ll be keeping things running smoothly in the Hoipolloi office as administrator. I’m really excited to be working with the rest of the team and am looking forward to contributing to the upcoming Hugh Hughes projects.

I've enjoyed working with a number of arts organisations, most recently Walk the Plank and The Culture Capital Exchange. This is my first time living in Cambridge and I’m doing my best to fit in with the locals by cycling to work. I love experiencing a diverse mix of arts events, performances and exhibitions and am always open to recommendations. When I’m not working hard at Hoipolloi you might find me attending contemporary dance performances or wearing my onesie and watching Murder She Wrote!

Homecoming

Here at Hoipolloi, we're delighted to share a secret that we've been keeping for some time:

In June 2013, Hugh Hughes comes home!

As part of National Theatre Wales' third year, Hugh has been asked to make his next show on the Isle of Anglesey, where it all began back in 1968. When packing up his childhood home to help Mam move out, Hugh came across his childhood journals, and has started a project called Things I Forgot I Remembered. 

This exciting collaboration will result in performances in Llangefni, the town of Hugh's childhood, and in Holyhead. There's lots more to share about this unique project, but for now, check out National Theatre Wales' new website for more...

A farewell from Simon

I've had the pleasure of working for Hoipolloi for nearly eight years and was thrilled when I stepped up to become the company's Executive Producer in 2011. But now it's time for me to undertake some brand new adventures and I'll be leaving Hoipolloi on 21 December.

I started as the company's first full-time Marketing & Touring Manager in January 2005 and one of my first tasks was to book a tour for Floating, the first Hugh Hughes show. Little did I (or indeed anyone else!) know that we'd go on to take Hugh and his friends all across the world, win four awards and help share his work beyond the stage online, on radio and on film.

Following Hoipolloi's successful application to join the Arts Council's national funding portfolio in April 2012, the company has been able to expand its staffing resources and I know that I'll be leaving things in very capable hands. I also wanted to make sure that Stories from an Invisible Town was happily on its feet before I left (which it is) - please don't forget that you can still catch the piece in Plymouth until Saturday and from next week at London's Barbican Centre (oh, and of course, online whenever you wish at www.invisibletownstories.co.uk).

There are also lots of exciting things on the horizon! A new Hugh Hughes radio drama will be broadcast by BBC Radio 4 on 5 December, there is plenty more online activity to come and also an announcement of a fantastic new live show will be made in the New Year. I'm certainly very sad not to be able to play a part in that and when you hear about it, I'm sure you'll understand why!

And what about my own plans? Well, I've decided to follow Hugh's advice and think carefully about how I can "change my perspective". In January I'll be heading off to Australia for a little while to discover more about their cultural scene - I'm intending to hop from festival to festival and then after that, we'll see what happens.

Our audiences (and their delight in our work) has been a huge part of why I've enjoyed working with Hoipolloi so much and I'll greatly miss thinking about what intriguing offerings can be created for you. Thank you for continuing to support Hoipolloi and Hugh Hughes and making my time here so wonderful. 

Simon Bedford, Hoipolloi's Executive Producer

Following the audience's lead

One of the constant challenges for arts organisations, especially those that tour work like Hoipolloi do, is building a relationship with an audience that can be sustained - even when work is not out 'on the road'. Talking about 'the audience' all too often means thinking about the people who experience your work as a homogenous unit, when they are anything but.

Hoipolloi has been fortunate that Hugh Hughes, who we've been working with since 2005, so readily embraces social media. This enables some degree of a continued conversation, but we also know that twitter and facebook are not everybody's cup of tea. We've also been open to exploring opportunities beyond the stage, and the recent success of Floating on Radio 4, that that earned Hugh a BBC Audio Drama Award for Best Scripted Comedy Drama, also brought us a huge audience.

We were really excited about opening up Hugh's childhood home online, because we knew this offer was a unique way to experience the magic of Hugh Hughes when and where the audience please. We know, however, that not all Hugh's fans want to experience work in this way, and even those that do have radically different approaches to the site. Some people start on the home page and work methodically through the stories as though they are actually walking through the house; some people jump straight into a story through a link they found on twitter or facebook; some people wander around the online space looking at the floorplans and Hugh's notes without listening to stories at all; some people put stories on 'in the background' whilst they do other things. With the glorious variety of Hoipolloi's audience in mind, we've continued to work with the material that we've made available online at www.invisibletownstories.co.uk in an attempt to make the experience of visiting as unique as each visitor. We've started to offer particular collections of stories, curated by people. My own collection is simply my favourites at a particular point in time that capture something of the whimsy and perspective that I think makes Hugh so compelling. Each collection has a description that will tickle particular fancies - want a flavour of the site without having to make decisions about which story to choose? We've got a single track, curated by Hugh. Or maybe you're fascinated by Hugh's love of pigeons?

Most exciting of all, perhaps, is that we listened to feedback, and have created Hugh Hughes FM. We're delighted to announce this development, which will suit both those who want to listen whilst doing other things, and those who are open to serendipity and want to be surprised. Find it at http://invisibletownstories.co.uk/radio

Where are they now?

If you're a regular reader of this blog, particularly anyone who has been a visitor here since we launched this space all the way back in the 2007, you'll know that over that period, we've offered internships to four talented individuals at the start of their arts careers.

We're really proud of what Sara, David, Marieke and Richard achieved during their time with us and I thought this might be an opportune moment to share with you what they are up to now!

Sara

This blogpost flashed into my mind when onto my Twitter stream popped the following video, with a very recognisable face staring back. After Sara left Hoipolloi she studied acting at Central School of Speech and Drama and is now working with friends to create these little vignette's once a month...


 There's more information on Mono Pops and what they're up to right here

David

When David left Hoipolloi he headed off for two years at the Lecoq School in Paris (following in Shon and Steffi's footsteps). When he graduated last year, he started up his own company called Let Slip and can now be found up at this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe with a show called Machines for Living

Machines for Living is now running at the Zoo until 27 August at 3.30pm. More info here.

Marieke

Marieke's path away from Hoipolloi lead her to Birkbeck's Theatre Directing course, which she'll be finishing in September. As part of the course, she spent eight months working with the lovely folks up at Sheffield Theatres (assisting Daniel Evans, Richard Wilson and Lyndsey Turner) and has recently produced and directed a production of Terrance Rattigan's While the Sun Shines.

Richard

Our most recent intern Richard left us back in 2011 to return to Hull and the Merge Arts Festival that he co-founded and runs. This year he'll also be found at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe working with Awkward Cough and their show The Election: A Silent Comedy, running now at the Bedlam Theatre until 18 August at 6.30pm. More info here.

Oh, and while we're talking about shows to see at the Fringe, you might also be interested that Shon and Steffi's daughter (and Hoipolloi's finest Edinburgh flyerer) Josie also has a show at the festival this year. You can see her in Spaghetti Junction at the Bedlam Theatre from 13 to 18 August (at 12.30pm). More info here.

(by the way, that's Sara dressed as the Doubtful Guest for a photo shoot back in 2008!)

Sharing and learning

As creatives, we're familiar with the idea of uncertainty: we readily embark on journeys when the destination is unclear, and trust that we'll not only find our way, but that we'll discover something along the way that we couldn't have planned or predicted. But when we put something into the public domain, we sometimes seem less able to embrace risk.

The last week at Hoipolloi has been full of uncertainty: we took the decision to share the online world for Stories from an Invisible Town, invisibletownstories.co.uk, knowing that it isn't finished, knowing there are things we would change.

When I applied for the Digital Associate post with Hoipolloi, what really piqued my interest was the description of the environment surrounding the website as 'test and learn'. I've had so many experiences with arts organisations that look to digital as the answer to questions that are too narrow, or outcomes that are too fixed. In pursuing answers and delivering outcomes, it's hard to allow room for understanding to emerge, for the form and the content to grow into one another.

At Hoipolloi, we've been encouraged to be open about both our progress and our process by a strong team who understand the value of input from users and audiences. We've employed an agile system of development that focuses on the minimum functionality required to test an idea, and then builds this up in an iterative fashion - which means that decisions don't have to be made before you know what you are making.

It's true to say that you never really know what you've made until you get it in front of an audience. This early sharing of the online world makes a lot of sense at Hoipolloi - after all, we're not making the site for us, we're making it for you and that means that the next set of decisions we make will be based on having shared the site and having learnt about what it is through observing how it is used.

So I hope you'll join in by visiting the site - invisibletownstories.co.uk - and allowing us to share your experience.

Image: a dry run in preparation for data analysis for invisibletownstories.co.uk

A big hello from the two new faces at Hoipolloi!

The once quiet Hoipolloi office has been somewhat busy of late as Bianca and I joined the team last month. We’ve had a lovely time meeting the rest of the team and bonding with the office yak and the Doubtful Guest. Having joined Hoipolloi from the exotic locations of Nottingham and Toronto, respectively, we have been exploring our new stomping ground here in Cambridge and getting acquainted with the Mill Road Massive. As the new company Administrator, I have spent the last few weeks investigating the deepest darkest depths of the office filing cabinets and Bianca is currently developing a dynamic new online space where Hugh Hughes can share his family’s memories. But more exciting than all of that, we have spent much of our time focusing on the important task of convincing Simon to let us get an office dog. Watch this space people; we think we are winning. Woof Woof! 

The gorgeous pictured dog, Tisbe, is courtesy of Olof Werngren from Flickr under a Creative Commons license.

Could you be our Digital Associate?

 

Just a few days remaining before the application deadline for our Administrator and Digital Associate posts. We've had a really enthusiastic response so far but we are happy to continue to receive further applications right up until 5pm on Monday (12 March).

The Digital Associate post is probably a bit of a unique role even though it's becoming much more common for arts organisations to take on staff whose main function is to support the development of activity in this area.

For us here at Hoipolloi this is a key appointment, particularly in the development of our new Hugh Hughes project, Stories from an Invisible Town, and there is plenty of online activity as part of this project for the Digital Associate to get their teeth into.

We're currently in the process of developing an exciting new online space where Hugh Hughes can share the stories of his memories of his childhood. There will be audio, video, photos, illustrations and text and we need someone to to help us turn these individual elements into an imaginative audience experience. And, most importantly, to help us find an audience to experience it!

Alongside this, the Digital Associate will take the lead on running our ongoing social media presence and help us think about how we can use all of our digital activity to generate new income.

The most common question I've received about this post is whether we are looking for the Digital Associate to spend all their time at the Hoipolloi office or if the successful applicant could work more flexibly away from Cambridge. We are very open to this possibility because a great deal of the Digital Associate's time will be spent working with various applications and CRM systems online anyway. Although I would say that I imagine around one day a week would be worked here in Cambridge, something we'd negotiate the detail of with the successful applicant.

You can find the full details of the Digital Associate role here, alongside information about our Administrator position. And a quick reminder that applications need to be received by 5pm on Monday 12 March.

Good luck!

Posted by Simon Bedford, Hoipolloi's Executive Producer

EDIT: I spotted yesterday on Twitter that someone thought the job required coding skills. Just to say this isn't the case! Some basic knowledge of code might be useful but is not essential - the job instead involves the use of content management systems such as Wordpress. Hope that also helps make things clearer!

We're recruiting!

Wanted: two amazing folk to join the Hoipolloi team. We're on the lookout for an Administrator and a Digital Associate to help us deliver our creative projects over the next year!

I'm particularly excited that we're able to start recruiting for these new posts. They're going to make a huge difference to my day-to-day working life and, I hope, help me transform how Hoipolloi functions.

You can find the full details about the jobs on the website so I wanted to use this blog as a way of sharing a bit more about what it's actually like working here.

I've been here since 2005, working my way up from Marketing & Touring Officer to become Hoipolloi's Executive Producer last April. When I arrived Hugh Hughes was only just starting to emerge as an Emerging Artist and now he's adored by people right across the world, He's also spread his work beyond theatre into film and radio.

Achieving that has involved hard work from everyone who has, in one form or another, been part of the Hoipolloi team over the past seven years. And there's no let up in our creative ambitions over the next few years either so I can definitely promise that there will be plenty for the new Administrator and Digital Associate to get their teeth into.

So, why do I like working for Hoipolloi?

Firstly, it's because no day here is ever quite the same. That's probably a bit of cliché and I suspect a lot of people who work in the arts will say something similar. But it's definitely true. One day I can be sat in a rehearsal room observing the creative process in action, the next booking flights to destinations across the world or perhaps, more mundanely, selling the company car (as I've been doing today!).

That kind of variety also spreads into the projects we do and the people we work with. We have some great partners within the theatre sector but it's also been a real pleasure to see Hugh working with Radio 4 to produce an afternoon play version of Floating. One of my recent proudest moments is finding out that he'd won Best Scripted Comedy Drama at the BBC Audio Drama Awards.

Finally, working for Hoipolloi is never dull. I like to think we're a relaxed bunch of people, working hard but having plenty of fun too. Perhaps this little video will help prove that...

I hope that this blog might act as an enticement to encourage you to apply for one of these two posts. And if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us here in the office on 01223 322748.

Once again, full details here.

We're looking forward to receiving your application!

Simon Bedford
Executive Producer, Hoipolloi

Oh, and thanks to andjohan for the photo

Floating wins an award

 

I'm very proud to announce that Hugh Hughes won Best Scripted Comedy Drama at the BBC Audio Drama Awards last night. It's a real honour, particularly as Floating was both Hugh's first live show and his first work to be broadcast on the radio.

Andrew Davies, who wrote the TV adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, was one of the judges in Hugh's category and this is what he had to say about Floating:

"Floating was totally original. Generally I hate fantasy, but this was very different, somehow sweetly earnest as well as daft, with sadness at the heart of it. I loved it that it had a cast of two, and I’d never heard of either of them. It used the radio medium with enormous (concealed) sophistication and reminded one of the almost limitless power of radio to create a world."


The award itself was presented by actor Richard Wilson and, as you can see from the photo, Hugh also met David Tennant who was master of ceremonies.

It being radio awards, someone sneakily managed to record some audio of Hugh on stage...



 Simon Bedford (Executive Producer, Hoipolloi)

Welcome to 2012

A belated Happy New Year from myself, Hugh Hughes and the rest of the Hoipolloi team. We're all really looking forward to the year ahead. It's certainly going to be busy and I hope you'll be able to join us along the way.

Hugh has already started the year with some very good news. His afternoon play version of Floating, created with BBC Radio 4 has been nominated for "Best Scripted Comedy Drama" at the first ever BBC Audio Drama Awards. The ceremony, to be hosted by David Tennant, takes place on 29 January and we'll let you know how he gets on.

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us during the autumn. I certainly had lots of fun driving Hugh to a couple of places for performances of 360 and the year ended in style with the run of Story of a Rabbit at Sydney Opera House.

At present, we're in the thick of development for Hugh's brand new project, Stories from an Invisible Town. Here's a quick intro from Hugh...

Stories from an Invisible Town - An Introduction (by Hugh Hughes by hughhughes

It'll be both an online space and a live work, which will tour the UK in the autumn. We'll be announcing more information as the year progresses but if you're in Cambridge, you can get some sneak previews by joining Hugh for some further work-in-progress performances at The Junction. These take place on 8 March, 20 April and 25 May. More details here.

We look forward to sharing our work with you in the not too distant future and hope you'll be able to join us at some point this year.

Simon Bedford
Executive Producer, Hoipolloi

ps. if you live in or near Cambridge, we think these might be of interest...

NIE: Clown on stage - a master class at The Junction
This Master Class led by NIE’s Artistic Director, Alex Byrne will explore the physical preparation of the body for performance through work on pure and expressive movement and the playfulness of the actors in performance through games and group work. Alex will explore work in red noses as a way to access emotions, material and playfulness.

Saturday 4 February from 11am – 6pm
Suitable for ages 18+
Price: £35 (£25 conc)

To book: please visit www.junction.co.uk/artist/4058

HOTBED 2012: CAMBRIDGE’S NEW WRITING FESTIVAL

26 - 29 January at The Junction

12 new commissions, live literature, film showings, masterclasses, workshops, a One-Page-Play Competition and free foyer events.

Writers at Hotbed: Janice Okoh (Bruntwood Award Winner 2011); Ed Harris (Writers’ Guild Award Winner 2011); Chris O’Connell (Multiple Fringe First Award Winner), plus many more of the UK’s leading and up-and-coming writers.

Guest Production: Hotbed will host world-class production of SILENT by Ireland’s leading new writing company, Fishamble.  The show was the hit of the 2011 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and won a plethora of awards, including the prestigious Fringe First Award.

Box office: 01223 511511 or book online: www.junction.co.uk

Exclusive previews in Sydney

 

Are you in Sydney? Perhaps you'd like to join Hugh Hughes at Carriageworks for some exclusive work-in-progress sharings of Stories from an Invisible Town.

The sharings take place this week on Thursday, Friday and Saturday (15 to 17 December) at 8pm. They are free to attend, all you need to do is sign-up here online beforehand to reserve your place:

Stories from an Invisible Town is Hugh's brand new project and an artistic investigation of childhood. It's probably easiest if I let Hugh explain...

Stories from an Invisible Town - An Introduction (by Hugh Hughes by hughhughes

Posted by Simon Bedford, Executive Producer, Hoipolloi

Story of a Rabbit in Sydney

 

We're really excited to be returning to Sydney Opera House with Hugh Hughes and Story of a Rabbit.

It's Hugh's third visit to Australia and his second to the Opera House itself. And I'm giddy with excitement at the honour of once again helping Hugh tour to such a prestigious venue.

Hugh is especially excited as Aled, who created the show with Hugh is returning to the stage after having handed over the musical and technical reins to his brother, Dafydd for the last year.

If you are in Sydney, or can get to Sydney or know people in Sydney, we'd be delighted to see you there for Story of a Rabbit. The show opens on Tuesday 29 November and runs until Saturday 10 December.

There's more information here at the Sydney Opera House website... http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/whatson/story_of_a_rabbit.aspx

You can also read more about the process involved in the creation of Story of a Rabbit in this blog from Shon, Hoipolloi's Artistic Director...
http://freshinkaustralia.com/2011/11/16/hugh-am-i-the-hugh-hughes-project/

And if you're after a quick preview of what to expect, here's a short snippet of the show:

 

Posted by Simon Bedford (Hoipolloi's Executive Producer)

Things to see in Cambridge

For anyone in Cambridge, I wanted to share a couple of recommendations of things you should definitely see at The Junction over the next month or so.

Starting next Monday, the fabulous Non Zero One are heading to the city with The Time Out. I've become a huge fan of this emerging company since seeing their technically spectacular and surprisingly emotional show, Would Like To Meet at the Barbican Centre last year. And their beautifully poignant farewell to the old Bush Theatre recently was one of the best shows I've seen for a while.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Time Out when I caught it in Edinburgh this year - it's a great opportunity to bond with strangers and become a successful team in the space of an hour. You'll need to be prepared to get involved but trust me, it's definitely worth it! 

As it's a limited capacity, some of the performances are already sold out. There are currently spaces left at 9pm on Mon 21 Nov and then 6pm, 7.30pm and 9pm on Tue 22 Nov and Wed 23 Nov.

More info here at The Junction's website... http://junction.co.uk/artist/3687

And if you're looking for Christmas entertainment, our good friends at NIE are creating Hansel and Gretal  for your viewing pleasure.

Not only that, but Hoipolloi's own Associate Director, Stefanie Mueller is both designing and performing in the show.

The show opens on 7 December and runs right the way through until 3 January so there's plenty of opportunity to catch the show. And as they say, it's "a delicious Christmas show for the whole family to enjoy."

More info here at The Junction's website... http://junction.co.uk/artist/3419

And NIE are blogging their way through the making of the show so if you'd like to see what Steffi has been up to, you can see plenty of pics here.

Posted by Simon Bedford (Hoipolloi's Executive Producer)

A few reminders and recommendations

Firstly, a quick reminder that Hugh is performing 360 at the Words in Walden Festival over in Saffron Walden on Friday night (7 October). There's still a few tickets left and you can find out more by visiting the festival's website.

For those of you in Cambridge, Hugh will also be doing some more work-in-progress on his new project, Stories from an Invisible Town at The Junction on Friday 28 October if you'd like to join him. More info here.

The Junction itself has a packed autumn schedule and if you're in Cambridge I can definitely recommend getting yourself down to see as much as it as you can, including (if you can get a ticket) Little Bulb's Operation Greenfield which is on tonight and tomorrow. I adored this show when I saw it at Soho Theatre in the summer and if you enjoy Hugh's work, I'm sure you'll be charmed by this too.

In the week before Hugh's visit to The Junction, Forced Entertainment will be bringing Void Story to Cambridge on 18 & 19 October. Forced Entertainment's work is admired around the world and, although I'm sure it'll be quite different from the work we produce, it sounds very intriguing. Here's a taster...

And in November, you should definitely be getting yourself a ticket to Non Zero One's The Time Out. I love their work (they're most definitely my favourite company at the moment) and I saw this in Edinburgh in the summer. You need to be prepared to work with your fellow audience members to become a successful team but it's a lot of fun too.

And finally, just to give some balance to non-Cambridge things - if you're a director and can get yourself to London, why not book yourself a place on Told by an Idiot's intensive Director's workshop with Paul Hunter. It's taking place from 17 to 21 October at the Jerwood Studios and costs £200. More info here.

Posted by Simon Bedford (Executive Producer, Hoipolloi)

Floating on BBC Radio 4 - this Friday

 

We are very proud of Hugh's continued success with Floating which he initially created with us here at Hoipolloi. It's amazing to think that it was September 2005,  6 years ago, that he and Sioned first performed Floating at the Old Museum Arts Centre in Belfast.

Since then it has travelled all over the world, playing in Edinburgh, London, Vancouver, New York, Sydney, Moscow and beyond.

I had some time together with Hugh up in Edinburgh this summer while we were both there watching some theatre. I asked him about his experience of making Floating for the radio:

"It was superb. The people at the BBC in London are very professional. In fact, I'd say they are fully professional. They really do know their business inside out and back to front. I was in very good hands. Just like when my mother would leave me with my Aunty Glenys when I was a toddler. There was no running away from her safety net.


 The person I was working closely with there was a fine young man called James - I won't use his surname in case he'd prefer I didn't - I'm sure there are lots of Jameses working at the BBC - and he was very very good at his job and was able to help me reconstruct the event using audio only. That is the challenge of radio - to only use audio. 


Luckily, Sioned was able to get childcare for her little Mary and so she was able to join me in the studio and play all the other characters in the story and Cantorian Menai sung and my Aunty Glenys shared her version of events. Altogether, a lot of people threw their hat into the ring, making the whole project a jamboree of a thing. It was thoroughly enjoyable and I am still very thankful to the corporation for making and broadcasting the story."

In celebration of Floating being made for radio we at Hoipolloi, with the Roundhouse in London, are presenting the story on stage on Friday 21 October (with Hugh's show, 360, being performed on Saturday 22 October). We hope you can get along to see it and are able to tell your friends. You can book tickets here.

And of course, don't forget to listen to the broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 2.15pm on Friday 9 September.

The journey continues...

Posted by Shon Dale-Jones (Artistic Director, Hoipolloi)