Some random photos of Hugh Hughes for you to enjoy!

There is an alternative reason for posting these online but I thought you might enjoy this blast from the past anyway. Enjoy!

Posted by Simon Bedford (Producer, Hoipolloi)

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!

Photographing Hugh

Today is going to be a busy day! We have some important meetings in London and then I'm running a photoshoot with Hugh Hughes. Our regular photographer and company friend, Geraint Lewis, will be taking the shots as we try and find an image for Hugh's brand new show, 360.

I'll try and keep our Twitter updated with what's happening and perhaps post some sneaky preview shots there too! Unfortunately the direct feed into the website seems to have collapsed but you can follow us here.

Meanwhile, the ensemble are already one day into their preparations for Thursday's St George's Day celebrations, Made in England.

Good morning Sydney!

Good morning, welcome to Sydney and our first proper blog entry from our international tour. I'm going to be your main guide to our time in Australia although Hugh and Sioned will do their best to say hello as and when their busy schedule permits.

Hugh apologises for not updating you from Singapore. He, Aled and Sioned had a fantastically hectic week in the city, thank you to everyone who joined them at Story of a Rabbit, the symposium or one of the workshops. We'll try and post a catch up about their time there soon.

In the meantime, tonight is our first performance from Sydney Opera House. The building definitely lives up to its iconic status and I'm currently sat in the Green Room with a delightful view of the harbour and the city beyond. Something I could definitely get used to.

We've got a busy day ahead. Hugh and Sioned should arrive in about 30mins and then we'll be continuing the tech run. Floating hasn't been performed since Moscow back in May last year so everyone's doing there best to remember exactly how it fits together. But I'm sure we'll get there in time for the imminent opening!

I arrived in town early on Sunday morning and enjoyed the luxury of being collected by an Opera House driver. He'd just delivered Juliette Binoche to the airport so I enjoyed my little VIP connection!

I'll keep you posted on how it goes tonight with a few twitter updates as and when I can! I'm just in the process of putting together a little video and if I can work out a way of getting it online without crashing the Opera House's server, I'll post it to YouTube.

In the meantime, here's a few pics of outside of our current 'home' for you to enjoy!

Speak soon! Simon (Hoipolloi's Marketing & Touring Manager)

4star review from The Guardian

Posted by Simon Bedford (Marketing & Touring Manager, Hoipolloi)

Waking up in Bogota this morning, I receive some fantastic news from the Hoipolloi base back in the UK. Thursday evening's performance was witnessed by Lyn Gardner, one of the Guardian's theatre critics, and here's just a taste of what she thought:

"The wonderful Hoipolloi is our leading purveyor of theatrical whimsy with shows such as Floating and Story of a Rabbit. This brief evening - childlike, but not childish and aimed at all ages - takes the 14 rhyming couplets of one of Gorey's best-known stories and transforms them into a piece of visual theatre that captures all the Victorian pastiche, fantastical imagination and ominous air of Gorey's original."

You can read the full 4star review here.

And for good measure, here's a few more production shots from the show!

Happy Easter!

(All photos by Geraint Lewis)

EXCLUSIVE - The Doubtful Guest production shots

Posted by Simon Bedford (Marketing & Touring Manager, Hoipolloi)

The internet is a fantastic thing! Here I am sat in my hotel room in Bogota, many thousand of miles from Watford and yet I'm still able to bring you an exclusive selection of production shots from The Doubtful Guest.

The internet also enables me to bring you the show's very first review from Hemel Hempstead Today which describes the show as "a chuckle-a-minute high quality piece that laughs in the face of 'serious' theatre". For the full review, click here.

And here, for your viewing pleasure, are the photos (taken by Geraint Lewis):

Just Kidding...

Posted by Sara Green (Marketing and Admin Assistant, Hoipolloi)

Of course we were joking about coincidentally bumping into the Doubtful Guest at the Barbican last Friday but we did have an extremely interesting afternoon taking photos of the creature in an around the estate.

I’ll give you one guess to work out the mug that was inside the massive furry costume for two hours? Of course it was me - I happen to be the right size to fit in it and so was a prime target to be roped in by Simon, Hoipolloi’s Marketing & Touring Manager.

It was actually a very enjoyable afternoon and, despite getting some funny looks from several Barbican residents and being questioned by a curious policeman, it all ran rather smoothly. We took photos everywhere - on the bridges, lying on benches, peeping round columns and even managed to get invited up to a resident’s balcony, whose name, remarkably, was Hugh. (Maybe it was Hugh Hughes in disguise…)

The costume looks pretty impressive and very striking; however it is extremely suffocating not to mention completely restricting. I found it hard to walk, to talk and even to see, making me sort of understand why the creature refuses to listen to the family’s pleas for it to move. Maybe it literally can’t. There’s an interesting thought!

But even though I moan about the uncomfortable costume etc, it was actually quite exciting. To be photographed on location by a talented photographer and be the centre of attention for several hours isn’t all that bad! It was also nice to experience life from the doubtful guest’s perspective. The way it stands, nose pointed outwards, arms by its side is really specific and standing still, staring for minutes at a time made me feel like I was the real creature and I did often drift off into a day dream. Easily done I can assure you.

I think that this was a great opportunity for an aspiring actor and I have some fantastic photos of my debut - although I definitely won’t be using them as headshots in the near future…

SPOTTED! The Doubtful Guest

Posted by Sara Green (Marketing and Admin Assistant, Hoipolloi)

When we were in the Barbican for rehearsals on Friday we were astonished to bump into someone curiously familiar as we walked around the estate.

The Doubtful Guest seemed to pop its head out everywhere - round the columns, on the benches, in the bushes, at the church door and sometimes in even stranger places. I even caught it peering despondently into the library.
And by some strange coincidence we happened to be with photographer Geraint Lewis who managed to take a few shots…