TechnoTheatre

As the victim of many jokes regarding how technologically inept I am I have decided to dedicate this blog post to 'Theatre and Technology' in celebration of the fact that thanks to my time here at Hoipolloi I now know what Twitter is, can navigate Google Analytics and actually write a blog post. It really is miraculous that I haven't managed to break the blog yet.

Apart from the odd bit of 'multimedia' in productions, I had never given much thought to the role of technology in theatre. Apparently it is quite a big thing now. It has probably been a big deal for a while and I'm just being slow and finally cottoned on to the whole thing. Anyway it is all really rather intriguing.

The most exciting bit of 'techno-theatre' as I'm going to call it, is the RSC and Mudlark's 'Such Tweet Sorrow' (how much do you love what they've done there? It had me chuckling away for ages). Six RSC actors are improvising a drama based on Shakespeare's good old gem Romeo and Juliet. The 'show' will run for five weeks, with the actors posting tweets and YouTube videos throughout. Check it out at http://suchtweetsorrow.com/.

Now for many of you this will be old news, but I'm still intrigued by NT Live - live theatre broadcast to cinemas. I regrettably haven't made it to a screening yet, but I am dubious. Whenever I have watched recordings of live productions they have missed the mark. A lot. It seems that during the leap from stage to screen much of the magic is lost. But who am I to question the National. aybe I should just book myself a ticket for The Habit of Art which will be broadcast live on Aril 22nd. For more info click here.

I've got a funny feeling though that won't be ditching actually going to a theatre to see a show just yet. Perusing Twitter doesn't quite cut it for me when you can see real actors on a real set in a real theatre. In fact last night I saw Laura Wade's Posh at th Royal Court and thought it was magnificent. So if you'd like to stick to an old fashioned non techno theatre experience then I highly recommend a trip to Sloane Square. Or, there is of course Hugh Hughes in rehearsal at the Junction in Cambridge next month. It would be great to see you there.





Thanks to eurlief for the photo

And a partridge in a pear tree!

Finally, we've made it to the end of the week and the end of the year! A huge thank you to everyone who's seen a Hoipolloi show this year. And if you've missed anything, you can read about it in part one, part two, part three and part four!

OCTOBER

October was the changing rooms month when we switched everything around in the office. This involved some fun day trips, including one to the dump. It was here that Simon and I rescued the following books from the paper recycling bin: Sebastian Faulks' Charlotte Gray; Industry and Empire by E.J. Hobsbawn; The Path to Genocide by Christopher R. Browning; Safe Outback Travel by Jack Absalom and The Holocaust in History by Michael R. Marrus.

NOVEMBER

Hugh toured Story of a Rabbit with Aled, and learnt to tweet. I’ve never seen anyone throw themselves into twitter with such enthusiasm. Do check out our twitter stream for Hugh’s wonderful musings.

While Hugh was obsessed with twitter, my attention was focused on Cate Blanchett’s dress and my appetite was mainly keen on cake.

Oh, and the reason I mentioned Cate Blanchett's dress was because we won another award! Floating picked up Best Live Theatre from Australia's The Age paper.

DECEMBER

The best thing to have happened so far this month has to have to been the announcement that 360 will be touring in the New Year – Sydney, Oxford and Liverpool, prepare yourselves!

If you haven't seen it already, we've prepared this little trailer for the show!




As well as getting everything sorted for the tour, Simon and I were involved in the 24 Hour Plays at the ADC, which was a lot of fun indeed. And Simon's spent several occasions this year telling our arts world colleagues about we keep up communcation with you guys via the internet.
As you can see it’s been a great year for Hoipolloi and we’d like to thank you all for reading the blog, seeing the shows, sending us emails and generally being fantastic.

And to sing out the year in good cheer, and in the absence of the Hoipolloi staff doing so, here are the muppets (with the help of John Denver) to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!





Posted by Marieke Audsley (Marketing & Admin Assistant, Hoipolloi). Thanks to G-hat for the photo.

AMA Digital Day

Good evening! It is Sunday night, X Factor is on TV (I don't think I really care about any of the final 5 although if I'm honest I think it's definitely time Lloyd left. Isn't it?) and I'm here tapping away a little blog entry.

This is preparation for my presentation to the Arts Marketing Association's Digital Marketing Day tomorrow afternoon. I'm pretty excited as this is my first big London gig at Sadler's Wells no less. Anyway, if you're reading this on Monday after I've spoken, I hope it was useful!

So, here are the videos I'm going to need for the presentation, plus a few more bits and pieces that you might find useful.

VIDEO ONE



VIDEO TWO



And some other bits and pieces for you:

Hoipolloi on Twitter
Hoipolloi on Facebook
Hugh Hughes on Facebook
Our YouTube channel
Our audioboos

And a couple more videos for you:






EDIT: Wed 2 December

CJ from PCM Creative qik'd my presentation, which you can view here if you have a spare 43mins. Always slightly cringy to watch yourself back, so I won't be viewing it in too much detail although was pleased with how it all went on Monday!



Posted by Simon Bedford (Producer, Hoipolloi)

The Full English

Good evening! Today has certainly been a hectic day. I've been in the office continuing preparations for Story of a Rabbit's USA tour and getting images ready for 360's run at the Edinburgh Fringe. Over in Milton Keynes, the ensemble have been completing final preparations for tomorrow's performance of The Full English.

Speaking of The Full English (just typing that makes me feel hungry!) I think we now have a little more detail for you if you'd like to come and enjoy the show. And there's certainly more information about what's happening over here on the BBC's site.

The day starts in Milton Keynes at around 10am where the performance begins at the Theatre Square. The company will then board a double decker bus over to Luton railway station.

They're due to board a train just after midday and will arrive at London's St Pancras station at approximately 1pm, where the performance ends about an hour later.

This is all delightfully vague but undoubtedly the ensemble will have fun with whoever and wherever they end up performing! Here's what they've been telling the BBC about their plans.

If you're not in MK, Luton or able to get to St Pancras, you'll be able to hear more of what's going on as BBC local radio in Bed, Bucks and Herts and in London will be broadcasting live from the event between those hours.

Tomorrow I'm acting as chauffer for the ensemble's luggage, making sure it is delivered safely from MK into London. I'll attempt a few tweets along the way as, traffic permitting, I hope to make it into St Pancras in time for the show!

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.

Tweeting a century

My latest Tweet is (or certainly will be) a link to this blog, which is a video about Twitter. And more by luck than any kind of sensible judgment, that Tweet is also Hoipolloi's 100th!

It amuses me that we've reached a century already, having only been using Twitter for a couple of months, unlike this blog which has been running for a good year or so and will only hit the 100 post mark in the next week or so.

Anyway, back to the point.

This is the latest installment of my video diary leading up to Shift Happens in June (click here for the first). It was recorded a couple of weeks ago in Sydney but I'm still playing catch up. Enjoy!



Thank you to Woody1778a for the picture.

Shift Happens 2.0

Ironically, this isn't another post about our recent earthquake here in Melbourne! I've been invited by Pilot Theatre to be one of the speakers at this year's Shift Happens conference in York (29 to 30 June).

Marcus, Pilot's Artistic Director, has asked me to provide people with an insight into the ways we're using social media tools here at Hoipolloi.

I've started creating some video diaries of my experiences, which I'll eventually edit together for the conference itself. I thought I'd share these here so that you can get a sense in 'real-time' how everything's fitting together. Although I have to admit that I'm a bit behind myself because I made this first one before I left for Australia and I've already made a second one, which I'll post early next week.

To book your place at the actual event, visit www.shift-happens.co.uk for more info. And thanks to Eurleif for the image.

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)