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

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

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)

Floating on BBC Radio 4

Hoipolloi are excited to announce that Floating has been adapted into a radio play, to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Friday 9 September at 2.15pm.

Floating (and Hugh Hughes) have been on an incredible journey since the very first performance of the show at the Old Museum Arts Centre in Belfast on 12 September 2005.

I remember that day very vividly - it was part of the first tour I ever booked for the company. It was a pleasure to witness how the audience were delightfully confused and excited by the story unfolding in front of them. And that first show last well over 2 hours!

Having started at Hoipolloi at the beginning of 2005, it’s been a real pleasure to share in the successful journey of this show. From its simple beginnings in Belfast, to a rewarding run at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2006 (winning a Total Theatre Award) and performances at London’s Barbican Centre, Sydney Opera House and most recently a trip to Canada (visiting Vancouver, Victoria and Toronto).

We really hope you’ll be able to tune in and listen to this new version of the show. And please share the news with your friends and family too.

You’ll also notice some brand new dates in the performance calendar. These include a brief visit to London’s Roundhouse with Floating and 360. These performances are taking place in the Roundhouse’s studio, which has a very limited capacity so if you want to come, I’d advise booking early.

Posted by Simon Bedford (Executive Producer, Hoipolloi)
With thanks to machoismtango for the image

Visiting the Edinburgh Fringe?

You'll have noticed by now that neither Hugh Hughes or Hoipolloi can be found at this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In the years that we haven't performed, it often feels like a bit of a mixed blessing - I'm not having to worry about how many people are booked for today's show but also, I feel a little left out, missing that kind of daily adrenaline charge.

Last year I didn't even have a visit to the Fringe but I can't stay away for long and so last weekend I was pounding the cobbled streets looking to be entertained.

I thought I'd share some tips for the best stuff I saw. Oh, and by the way, I'm also heading back to the Fringe from 24 to 28 August so if you have any tips on what to see during that period, I'd love to hear them!

Right, here goes...

The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik (Underbelly, 18.00)

I'm going to start with the best show I saw during my three days because if you get bored of reading this blog post, I don't want you to miss out on a real gem!

The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer - Trailer from Tim Watts on Vimeo.

Delightful, magical, charming, irresistible - lots of adjectives that I'd use to describe this show. It's a beautiful love story mixing animation, puppetry and music and I'd defy you not to fall in love with it. I saw it on Saturday and have been raving about it to anyone I can find (including you now). I've noticed that in the last two days it's been sold out so definitely one to get booked in to in advance.

Shows with a Hoipolloi connection

As I've mentioned, we don't have a show of our own on this year. But if you're craving some form of Hoipolloi-related show, why not try the following...

3rd Ring Out (Pleasance, various times from 18 August)

This hasn't started yet but Steffi, our Associate Director, is performing as part of it once it opens. Taking place inside a container, you're immersed straight into disaster emergency planning and your responses will effect the future. I saw this piece last year at PULSE and it's a really thought-provoking piece on climate change and our ability to deal with a changing world.

To Avoid Precipice Cling To Rock (Bedlam, 16.30 until 13 August only)

You've only got a few days left to catch this one and enjoy a bit of Hoipolloi history. Josie, Shon and Steffi's daughter making her Fringe performance debut! Josie is of course a Fringe veteran in many ways, having grown up spending August flyering for various Hoipolloi productions over the years. But it's great to see her taking to the stage as part of this fantastic ensemble of young female performers.

Show Me The World (Underbelly, 12.00)

This one's connected to me, as I've been mentoring the company for the last few months. Winners of IdeasTap's Edinburgh Award, this is a show written specially for and performed by a really exciting group of talented young performers. Some of the language in the show isn't for the faint-hearted but it really captures those late teenage moments of growing up and moving on. EDIT: they've just got a 4* review from Whatsonstage

Other gems that I enjoyed...

Vertigo (Bedlam, 15.25 until 13 August only)

Another show to catch if you can in the next few days. I really loved the charm and wit of the two performers and towards the end, a delightfully emotional twist caught me by surprise.

Cloud Man (Hill St Theatre, 11.00 until 24 August only)

A really enchanting piece for young audiences about the search for the elusive Cloud Man. Worth catching even if you don't have any children to take, I adored the detailed puppetry in this.

2401 Objects (Pleasance Courtyard, 16.40)

I first saw Analogue's work in 2007, receiving a Fringe First on the same day as Hugh Hughes (for Story of a Rabbit). I've enjoyed following their development over the last few years and I was so excited by this piece. It's fantastically confident and assured, capturing beautiful fragments of a fascinating true story.

Hoipolloi's interns storm Fringe Festivals!

I'm really excited that two ex-Hoipolloi interns are also performing on the Fringe this year -although only one is on in Edinburgh, the other is performing in London as part in Camden Fringe.

You can catch Sara (who worked with us in 2007/08) in Sold at Pleasance Courtyard at 11.10 and David (who worked with us in 2008/09) in Hamster Town at the Camden People's Theatre until 17 Aug.

Right, I think that's all for now. If you see any of these, I hope you enjoy them and looking forward to hearing your tips for what to catch when I return to Edinburgh at the end of August.

Posted by Simon Bedford (Executive Producer, Hoipolloi)

With thanks to the Edinburgh Blog for the photo

Hoipolloi statement on Arts Council funding decision

Hoipolloi has been invited to join Arts Council England’s new national portfolio of organisations with support for our programme of work through to 2015.

We understand that the Arts Council have had to make some very difficult decisions over the past few months. It is not clear today what impact the funding cuts will have on the environment we work within.

We will now concentrate on how best to move forward from here, assessing our plans in the light of this challenging new climate.

Up until this point, Hoipolloi has received a combination of RFO and lottery funding. Our new national portfolio settlement offers the company a much more secure position to build on the successes of the past 17 years and find exciting ways to increase our engagement with audiences in the future.

Over the next few years, Hoipolloi will build on the success of our partnership with Hugh Hughes, work that has a proven capacity to reach and inspire people. We will also continue and improve our use of digital media as a creative tool, looking at ways of furthering the links between our live and digital work.

Hugh Hughes in Canada with Floating

As you may already know, Hugh Hughes is touring his theatre show, Floating, in Canada at the moment. He was very excited to catch the plane over this weekend, and he’s already been reporting back to us here in the UK with stories of his adventures – more of those at a later date.

If you’ve already discovered Hugh Hughes at a theatre performance in Canada (or anywhere else, for that matter), and just want to find out a bit more about him, then why not have a look at his new website? It’s something he’s been working very hard on, so that you can use it alongside his live theatre performances and find out what he’s up to when he’s not performing Floating.

You can find his site at http://www.hughhughes.me/

Hugh very much hopes you’ll delve deeper in to his Wonderful World and that you and he can become that little bit more connected.

If you haven’t come across a Hugh Hughes theatre show before, and you’re in Canada, then this is the perfect opportunity to discover our charming Welsh friend. Floating will be performed in three different Canadian cities through January and February, in a tour covering British Columbia and Ontario.

Vancouver, BC,
part of the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, with the Arts Club Theatre Company
20th January – 5th February
Details here.

Victoria, BC,
at the Intrepid Theatre
10th and 11th February
Details here.

Toronto, Ontario,
at the Harbourfront Centre
15th – 19th February
Details here.

This picture comes from Hugh's flickr stream - there are more photographic snippets of Hugh's life on there.

Hoipolloi offers a Master Class in London

Following Hoipolloi's month-long residency with Hugh Hughes at the Barbican and tours to Edinburgh, Dublin and Newcastle, our Artistic Director, Shon Dale-Jones offers you the chance to be part of a Hoipolloi Master Class. This will be a day-long event, running from 10am to 6pm, on Sunday 5 December 2010.

Revealing the secrets behind improvisation and free play which underpin the creation and development of every Hoipolloi show, this Master Class allows you to enter the fantastical world of Hoipolloi as rehearsal room meets playground.

Driven by imagination and laughter, Hoipolloi will help you unlock your creative potential and find the drama and the comedy inside every anecdote and experience. This is your opportunity to release and revel in the anarchy of the imagination.

You can find out more about Hoipolloi's work with emerging Welsh artist Hugh Hughes on his website at www.hughhughes.me

The Master Class takes places in the Jerwood Space on Union Street, London.

There is a strictly limited number of places, so book early to avoid disappointment! Master Class places cost £65 per person and can be booked by contacting Richard on 01223 322748 or via email on richard@hoipolloi.org.uk

Hoipolloi: Where the rehearsal room meets the playground
Sunday 5 December, 10am to 6pm
Jerwood Space, Union Street, London (nearest tube: Southwark/Borough)
Cost: £65 per person

Visit Hugh's brand new website

To celebrate his arrival in London, Hugh has launched his own brand new website and he'd love to share it with you. It can be found at www.hughhughes.me

Thank you to everyone who's paid a visit to the site so far, we're really excited that we've been able to work with Hugh to create it. Over time, it'll become both a vast archive of the Hugh's journey as an emerging artist and also a place for a whole host of new content for you to enjoy.

It's been a busy month, hence the lack of posting here since the 13 August!

The Wonderful World of Hugh Hughes has opened at London's Barbican Centre to great critical acclaim and we've had the very first screening of Hugh's brand new film - How I Got Here.

Here's some of what the press has been saying:

"If there's a friendlier, more engaging character in contemporary British theatre than Hughes, I've yet to meet him"
The Times (reviewing 360)

"An infectious enthusiasm that radiates warmth like a homely coal fire."
The Stage (reviewing The Wonderful World of Hugh Hughes)

"Just the tonic for the cynicism and drudgery of London"
Time Out, Show of the Week (4stars)

Don't forget that the shows run at the Barbican until Saturday 2 October and then move on to the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh (5 to 9 Oct) and the Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival (12 to 17 Oct).

And also, if you're in Cambridge this Sunday (19 Sept, 6pm, Cambridge Arts Picturehouse), Hugh will be introducing a screening of How I Got Here as part of Cambridge Film Festival. This will be a special moment as it's the first time that Hugh's work has been included in a non-theatre festival.

And to celebrate that fact, he's an exclusive clip from the film...

The first videos from the wonderful world

Good morning. It's a little dark and drizzly here in Cambridge at the moment. I think someone forget to tell the weather gods that we're not in Edinburgh this year - my hopes to enjoy a little sunshine through at least one August seem to have been dashed!

My apologies that this is our first blog post this month; I feel slightly shamed that our last posting was back on 28 July, which seems like an age ago now! I'm sneakily going to shift blame on to Richard for abandoning his intern post for a few weeks so that he can go and review shows up at the Fringe (and thus he's not here to defend himself!).

My reason for posting this morning is that Hugh has created some lovely little videos for us to act as mini-insights into his wonderful world. Here, some of his friends (and his sister) give you their thoughts on the Hugh that they know.

I'll leave you to enjoy them...









And a quick reminder that tickets are now on sale for The Wonderful World of Hugh Hughes at London's Barbican Centre from 8 September until 2 October and the Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival from 12 to 17 October. Full details here.

Posted by Simon Bedford (Producer, Hoipolloi)

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!

Going orange for the weekend

As it's last thing on a Friday afternoon, I thought I'd provide you with some highly topical weekend entertainment. You may remember a few weeks back that Marieke did her best to shoe horn a story about the world cup onto our blog. Some may have called it a form of 'ambush blogging'!

What neither Marieke or I knew at the time was that we had a highly legitimate Hoipolloi / World Cup story to share with you!

And here it is...

Some of you may remember Ben Frimston from his appearances in our shows (including The Doubtful Guest) and also an ongoing series of entries on this blog highlighting a variety of adverts that he's appeared in, from Burger King to the now infamous Rowntree's Randoms advert.

He's actually currently appearing in a new advert, but you'd be forgiven for not having seen it unless you live in the Netherlands.

So this is where this post finally gets highly topical. First off, let's actually see the advert we're talking about:



And now you'll begin to understand the topicality.

Those of you following the World Cup may remember a story a few weeks back where a group of young ladies were ejected from a stadium and subsequently arrested for a cunning piece of ambush marketing whilst dressed in bright orange dresses. They were basically advertising a Dutch beer called Bavaria. And this is the same company that Ben is advertising in the advert above! In fact, I believe this advert is the first appearance of the infamous orange dress the girls were wearing.

I'm sure you all know that Holland have reached the final and as Marieke and I both have Dutch heritage (although Marieke can actually speak the language), we'll be cheering for them on Sunday.

Who do you want to win?

I was slightly disheartened to hear that Paul, the score-predicting Octopus, had plumped for a Spanish victory although I'm also reliably informed that there's a parrot in Singapore who's put his money on the Dutch.

So will it be the octopus or the parrot who gets it right?

Posted by Simon Bedford (Producer, Hoipolloi)
And thanks to TwicePix for the image

A very big Hugh Hughes announcement

I've some big exciting news to announce but before I do, I wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who contacted me last week regarding our research into your experiences of seeing Hugh's shows.

I hadn't quite expected so many of you to be in touch! I hope I've replied to everyone's emails by now - it was exciting to speak to those of you who I had time to call and to all of the others, I hope to be in touch again in the coming months.

And now to the big announcement!

Hugh Hughes is returning to London's Barbican Centre. And this time he's not just bringing Floating, Story of a Rabbit OR 360. He's bringing ALL three!

Louise Jeffreys, the Barbican's Head of Theatre, has been a great supporter of Hugh's work since his first Edinburgh run in 2006 and last year, she offered The Pit to Hugh for the whole of September. He's decided to create a residency project, bringing Floating, Story of a Rabbit and 360 together and call it...

The Wonderful World of Hugh Hughes

The residency, whic has been co-commissioned by the Barbican will contain all three shows, which you'll either be able to see individually during the week or in one big tasty gulp on Saturdays.

And that's not all!

Every Thursday evening, as an juicy treat following performances of 360 you'll be able to enjoy a special additional extra. This includes a visit with Hugh around the John Bock exhibition, the opportunity to enter Hugh's development space with Stories from an Invisible Town and finally a brand new documentary film called Hugh Hughes: How I Got Here.

And that's still not all!

In September, we'll be launching the Wonderful World of Hugh Hughes online. A brand new site that will provide an digital fabularium of content created by Hugh. This ranges from diary entries from the past few years, sneaky peaks backstage or just random ideas that have come into Hugh's head.

This is what Hugh has to say:
"It's really exciting to have this opportunity to share my stories with you. Come and join me. Share the fun. It might put a spring in your step."

Now that I've whetted your appetite, here's the science bit.

Performances take place from Wednesday 8 September until Saturday 2 October. The schedule is as follows:

Floating: 14, 21, 28 Sept at 7.45pm (Tuesdays during the run)
Story of a Rabbit: 15, 22, 29 Sept at 7.45pm (Wednesdays during the run)
360: 8, 9, 16, 23, 30 Sept at 7.45pm (Thursdays during the run plus one extra Wednesday!)
Full trilogy: 11, 18, 25 Sept & 2 Oct from 2pm (Saturdays during the run)

Tickets cost £15 each or £33 to see all three shows on Saturdays and are available from the Barbican.

Fear not if you don't live in London or can't make the trip there. We'll be announcing two further residencies in major cities in Scotland and the Republic of Ireland in the next month (that's s big a hint as to where we might be heading as I'm currently allowed to give!).

I'm really excited that we've been able to work with Hugh to make this all work. We'll be drip-feeding through more and more information over the next couple of months as there's plenty on offer to all of our audiences, wherever in the world you happen to be based, over the next few years.

See you in London!

Posted by Simon Bedford (Producer, Hoipolloi)

An amazing weekend / Now we need your help

Wow, what an amazing weekend that was (obviously ignoring the football result!). I hope you had as much fun as I did. The weather was glorious and I took my very first trip to Anglesey to meet up with Hugh Hughes and see his homeland.

Before I talk more about the weekend, I should first explain that now Marieke has left us, I (as in Simon, Hoipolloi's Producer) will be the main voice on here for the next few weeks whilst I await the arrival of Marieke's replacements.

Anyway, back to my travels...

It's strange that since I first joined Hoipolloi in 2005, I've spent most of that time talking about Anglesey and yet I had never actually once visited the place. But this weekend that all changed and I had a special guided tour of all the places that had previously only existed in my imagination.

I crossed the now fully reconstructed Menai Bridge (after it's collapse in Floating), I went to Llangefni and saw the house that Hugh grew up in and the church where Hugh's father died (as described in Story of a Rabbit). Perhaps most excitingly, particularly for 360 fans, I also saw the river where Hugh and Gareth built their dams (as pictured here).

It was a delight to see these places and have them leap into reality, suddenly become vividly alive in my mind. It's deepened my connection to the shows and brought the world of Hugh even closer.

And now we need your help to discover our audience's experiences of the work of Hugh Hughes.

This weekend has been just one of many exciting experiences of Hugh Hughes over the past five years. And now we'd like to understand more about your experiences of Hugh.

We're currently conducting some research into our audiences and are looking for some volunteers who might be willing to offer us up to about 30mins of time to chat about what they think of Hugh Hughes and their experiences of seeing his work.

You'll need to be:

• It's last minute but you'll need to be available for a 30min conversation (probably by phone) at some point between today and this Thursday (1 July).
  
• Have seen at least one (but preferably more) of Hugh Hughes' shows - Floating, Story of a Rabbit, 360 (or indeed in development projects such as Invisible Town or In Rehearsal).

If you're interested in helping us out, please email your contact details, including a phone number, to me via this address simonb@hoipolloi.org.uk.

As I'm looking for a real cross-section of people, it would be great if you could include your age (or I'll also accept a rough age bracket if you'd prefer!).

Not quite sure how the response to this request will go but I promise I'll respond to everyone who emails in to let them know whether we'll need to talk to them or not.

I look forward to hopefully talking to some of you very soon!

Posted by Simon Bedford (Producer, Hoipolloi)

Au revoir

It seems that all good things really must come to an end, alas, and so it is time for me to bid farewell and move onwards to pastures new. It seems like just moments ago that I was sitting in the bar at the Traverse theatre in Edinburgh writing my very first blog post, and even though it was longer ago, it feels that it is mere seconds (time is funny like that) since I came to the Hoipolloi office for the very first time for my interview with Simon, Louise and David. I was extremely flustered as I'd managed to trip over on the zebra crossing on Mill Road, making a complete fool of myself and causing a number of passers by to glance over and give me a patronising 'oh dear, you silly girl' look.

Having had the traditional 'oh cripes, I'm graduating and will no longer be protected from the world by the warm and familiar embrace of education' I realised that I needed to find something to do with my life. Of course I'd given up hope of finding a 'real job' ages ago and set my little heart on a life in the theatre. Luckily Hoipolloi took me on board, otherwise who knows where I would have ended up. Probably outside the backstage door of a theatre somewhere begging for a job. Or rocking gently in a 'home' muttering 'please can I direct plays'.

This year has been super, or as Hugh would put it, 'brilliant!' (insert welsh accent, thankfully you can't hear my appalling attempt). I won't list all of the best bits, - if I do I'll start to get ridiculously nostalgic and start to cry and though I don't know much about computers (although thanks to Simon I am definitely less technologically backwards than I was when I arrived) I'm guessing floods of tears never did them any good - but there have been hundreds. In fact I don't think I'll ever be able to drink a cup of fruit or green tea again without wistfully thinking back to the halcyon days spent in Dale's Brewery. Not only have I had a lot of fun, but I've also learnt many essential life skills which should equip me for the big bad world. These include how to write a blog, printing on headed paper, what a 'hashcode' is and navigating my way around Google Analytics. With all of this knowledge I think I'm going to be just fine masquerading as a real adult. After a recent conversation with Hugh I'm also keen to find out whether painting your legs yellow would make you run faster. If you see me running around with fluorescent legs one day, you'll know why.

To prevent this cascading into a total wallow of sentimentality I'm going to start rounding things up by saying a big thank you to everyone at Hoipolloi for a wonderful year. Thank you also to anyone who has read the blog. I hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it, and good luck to the new interns! I'm leaving Cambridge to train to be a director in the big bright city of London, so as I won't be terribly far away, nor leaving the theatrical world, I'm hoping that this is not 'goodbye', but merely 'au revoir'.

Thanks to Peter Kaminski for the photo