No problem, monkey socks

Obviously we're not paying our actors enough! Ben Frimston, who has performed in Hoipolloi's last five ensemble shows, most recently playing Charlie in The Doubtful Guest, has burst onto our TV screens with a starring role in a Rowntree's Randoms advert. And a very fine performance it is too.

We like to think he learned everything he knows about nonsense whilst performing in My Uncle Arly. And I'd like to take this opportunity to warn him that we'll be calling him 'Monkey Socks' forever more.

Tragically, our Doubtful Guest posters and flyers had been printed by the time the ad came out. Had we been able to include 'Starring Ben Frimston, Star of the Rowntree's Randoms advert' it would have sent our ticket sales through the roof.

But you can still see him for yourself in The Doubtful Guest at the Traverse from 18 to 30 August (with no performance on the 24th; click here for full performance details and to book.)

Of course, we wouldn't normally use the blog to carry adverts. But for Ben, we'll make an exception. Enjoy!

And if you're off to Latitude this weekend, come and find us with Hugh Hughes in the Theatre Tent on Sunday at 12.10pm...

360 down to 30

The countdown has begun and it's now just under a month to go before Hugh Hughes opens his brand new show, 360, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

One of the first stages of his preparation, a preview gig at the Museum of London, took place last week. A huge thank you to Laughterinoddplaces for inviting Hugh and everyone who joined us in a pretty hot and sweaty Medieval London section to hear a 25 minute excerpt.

Some lovely people have posted photos of the event on Flickr, view them by clicking here.

Hugh's taking a well-earned break this week and has returned to his native Anglesey to spend some quality time with his Mum and other friends and family.

Back here in the Hoipolloi office, preparations continue apace for the Fringe. Our accommodation is booked, we're just sorting out our travel plans and, of course, making sure as many people as possible know we'll be performing!

There will be quite a Hoipolloi presence in Edinburgh during August and if you spend any time at either the Traverse or the Pleasance Courtyard, I'm sure you'll bump into one of us!

Thank you to everyone who's already bought their tickets! To get hold of your tickets, please click here to book for Hugh Hughes in... 360 and click here for your tickets for The Doubtful Guest.

We'll continue to keep you updated on how things are progressing over the next few weeks and look forward to seeing you in Edinburgh!

Shift Happened

On Tuesday, I was honoured to speak at the Shift Happens conference in York. It was great to meet so many people who are interested in what we're up to, thank you for being such an appreciative audience!

For those that weren't there, I cheated a little and presented a video that edits together all the video diaries I've made since February, which have been posted here individually before.

This was actually my second "conference cheat" where I don't actually speak live but play in my presentation by video (following my AmbITion presentation back in April). This time however I did actually go to the conference venue in York, thanks to my lovely hosts at Pilot Theatre.

If you're reading this having seen me at the conference, you can see the full diaries by clicking this link, which will bring up all the archived videos plus a bonus video of my Ambition talk! And if you want to ask any questions, please feel free to drop me an email.

For those of you who didn't make it along to the conference or would prefer to watch the edited version (!), I'm hoping that it'll find a home somewhere on the web in the not too distant future. Follow us on Twitter and I'll spread news about it's appearance through that channel.

Any, the real point of this blog was to admit that I never got round to posting the final video I made a few weeks ago, so here it is in all it's glory to complete the set:



As I've quite enjoyed this process of documenting our journey with the website and various social media tools, I think I may well create a few more to finish off the story as we go into the Edinburgh Fringe... please click back in a few months to see what we've been up to!

Finally, if you ever need a hotel in York, I'd thoroughly recommend the Dean Court Hotel. It was fab and had a brilliant view of the Minster!

Hitting the Top 100

Good morning on this sunny Saturday. It's a particularly exciting morning as I've discovered that the Scotsman's Top 100 shows at the Fringe includes BOTH Hugh Hughes in... 360 and The Doubtful Guest.

This is fantastic news and makes a great start to the weekend. The Scotsman is such an important paper during the Fringe and I'm excited that out of 2098 shows to choose from, they've picked both of ours to make their list of safe bets to book for!

You can read the full list for yourself by clicking here (Hugh Hughes is near the top, the Doubtful Guest is near the bottom!).

Or, if you just want to go ahead and book your tickets, click here for Hugh Hughes and click here for The Doubtful Guest.

Finally, for some vaguely interesting blog/tweet trivia!

I've just realised that my 200th Hoipolloi tweet was all about making the top 100. Funny how numbers stack up like this! And having just looked back at things, my 100th tweet was a link to a video diary for Shift Happens which takes place on Monday and Tuesday this coming week. Bizarre!

Time to let the cat out of the bag...

So, it's time to let the cat out of the bag (and provide myself with a terrible excuse for a semi-cute animal picture!)...

We're off to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe!

As it's our fifteenth birthday this year, we thought we'd really push the boat out and have decided to take two shows up to the Festival.

We're really excited that The Doubtful Guest will be playing a strictly limited season at the prestigious Traverse Theatre. This darkly comic tale, inspired by Edward Gorey's fantastic book, will run from 18 to 30 August at varying times.

And Hugh Hughes is heading back to his regular haunt at the Pleasance Courtyard to premiere his brand new show, Hugh Hughes in...360. This time he'll be found in the Comedy section, with shows at 7.05pm from 5 to 31 August.

Full schedules for both shows can be found here.

We'll be pushing the boat out with our blog, our tweets and various podcasts, videos and photos from our time in Edinburgh and you'll be able to find all the latest news and gossip via our homepage.

Can't wait to see you up at the Fringe!

Thanks to Mava for the photo!