A new face and a new diary date

My first day working with Hoipolloi and I turned up drenched in a mixture of rain and sweat - not a great start. The rain had hit me getting off the train in Cambridge (not in Hull - a place you’d think would get more rain - when I set off in the morning), and the sweat was because it was warm rain. Mmm. By the way, I'm Richard – nice to meet you.

This Hoipolloi blog is usually written by producer Simon and the company’s intern, which - as of yesterday - is me. Hello. Over the next year or so I’m going to be getting stuck into how a real theatre company works, and it’s all very exciting. Even more exciting than today’s first task...searching through roughly 1,200 spam e-mails (who knew there were so many cheap and easy ways to improve your sex life, or that you could get a Masters degree just by phoning someone up?). But yesterday I did get to send letters to Kevin Spacey, Cate Blanchett and Lord Neil Kinnock, so that was good. Anyway, I'm/we're looking forward to giving you little insights into what Hoipolloi and Hugh Hughes are up to over the next few months. Hopefully I'll/we'll do it as well as Marieke did.

In other news...

For weeks now Simon’s been teasing us all by dangling in our faces the prospect of future performance dates for Hugh Hughes. He’s been drip-feeding details of upcoming performances in Canada (at Vancouver’s PuSH International Performing Arts Festival, in Victoria and the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto) and, of course, Hugh’s residency at London’s Barbican, in The Wonderful World of Hugh Hughes.

But now, there’s another exciting date. The lovely people over at the Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival have announced their line-up for next year’s festival (you can find it here: http://bit.ly/bVfytm) - and it features our very own Hugh Hughes. Hugh will be performing all three of his shows in October, at the Smock Alley Theatre, and he’s really looking forward to it. So, if you happen to be in or near Dublin in October (or know someone who is), check out those shows (or tell those people to).

Posted by Richard (Marketing & Admin Assistant, Hoipolloi)

Thanks to Infomatique for this picture of a green(!) Irish postbox - it reminds me of Hull's white phone boxes

A Canadian Adventure

Last week, during my announcement of The Wonderful World of Hugh Hughes, I promised to make further exciting proclamations, particularly to those from further afield. And so as part of my contract to fulfill this promise I bring you news that Hugh Hughes will be seeking out new audiences in Canada!

Hugh's never visited Canada before but is immensely excited (as am I) to be introducing his work to and making even more connections with people across the world.

For this visit, he'll only be taking his very first show, Floating. It sort of sounds disappointing when I say it like that (as opposed to the Barbican run where you'll be able to feast on all three shows), but undoubtedly they'll be opportunities for a return visit to share the others too.
I can't quite believe that Floating first hit the stage way back in 2005 (not long after I started working for Hoipolloi) and five years later it's going from strength to strength.

The tour commences in January 2011 with performances as part of the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival in Vancouver (we're playing at the Arts Club Theatre Company's Revue Stage) followed by a trip over to Victoria (details to come shortly) and finally a visit to Toronto's Harbourfront Centre from 15 to 19 February.

At the moment, tickets for our Vancouver run are only available to anyone purchasing an Arts Club season ticket but tickets are on general sale from 3 August (so that gives you a few weeks notice!). Tickets are already on sale in Toronto and booking details can be found here.

I'm amused to be sharing dates for 2011 already (especially as you're not yet able to book tickets for dates in October here in the UK) but if you know anyone in Vancouver, Victoria or Toronto, start spreading the news today!

Posted by Simon Bedford (Producer, Hoipolloi)
And thanks to Rick Harris for the beautiful picture!