Oh the mystery!

Secret agent Marieke here, working on a top secret, high profile mission, assigned by mastermind spy and not so evil genius, Simon Bedford. I have never been terribly good at keeping secrets, which is why you are getting some sneaky hints now, but I will have to keep schtum about the finer details for the time being. Rest assured the cat will come out of the bag before too long.

Anyway the secret project is seriously exciting. More exciting than the fact that we've recently won a gold medal at the winter Olympics. Now if you read last week's post you will understand that I am a ludicrously keen bean when it comes to winter sports (a strange combination of passions I know, skiing + theatre, but maybe linked in some quirky way...? Discuss.) so this should give you at least some idea of how brilliant the secret project is.

Clues: 1. I'm going to be searching through some Hoipolloi archive material over the next few days. 2. Hugh is involved. 3. If you're based in Cambridge, then make sue you keep a bit of space during the tail end of May free in your diaries (i.e. don't go on a month long cruise around the Bahamas or something like that. Stay here. You will not regret it). 4. If you're based in London, or nearby, or not but would like to visit London, then my magical mystical crystal ball says you shouldn't go away for an extended period of time in September (so that trekking holiday in Peru you had planned - cancel it).

Keep your eyes and ears open and keeping reading the blog as more information will be leaked soon.

In the meantime, whatever you do, don't forget that Hugh is hitting the road again next week and he would love to see you in either Oxford (3 March) or Liverpool (4 to 6 March).

Posted by Marieke Audsley (Marketing & Admin Assistant, Hoipolloi)

Thanks to laurakgibbs for the photo

Three cheers for 360

The winter olympics are in full swing and Hugh is approaching his next tour of 360 faster than you can say 'short track speed skating', although probably not as fast as the snowboarders travelling down the boarder cross track, or the bobsleighs, because that would be ridiculous.

Anyway, March is looking very close and we think visiting Oxford and Liverpool is as exciting as the Giant Slalom (now I'm a seriously big skiing enthusiast so that really is very exciting indeed). Plus the chance you'll enjoy the show is as great as the chance that the figure skaters will be wearing sparkly lycra and too much make up (extremely high).

Now in case you haven't got your mittens on a ticket yet, and still need convincing, here is a trailer to whet your appetite...



Convinced? No? Then perhaps this will sway you...



Still not gone to book via the websites of Oxford Playhouse or Everyman in Liverpool to book? Watch this and maybe you'll change your mind...



I can even hear the curling team in Vancouver shout 'say hello to Hugh for us'. Now if that isn't a reason to see 360, then I don't know what is.

Hurrah!

Lots of smiles and cause for celebration at Hoipolloi this week. Hugh and Simon are back from Sydney and it is lovely to have company in the office again. Things got so quiet last week that I actually started talking to myself. Never a good sign. I then put the radio on in order to hear some other human voices, but I soon regretted this decision when a song came on that I just had to get up and dance to (I won't tell you which one as it will only unveil my horrendous taste in music). So there I was, prancing around, when I noticed that there was a builder on the roof peeking in the window and laughing at me. Oh the shame.

Anyway, there are plenty of things to be happy about to distract me from the mortifying embarrassment incurred last week...

Item number 1: we have over 1000 followers on Twitter! Considering that we only started tweeting about a year ago, that's a fantastic number. Huge thanks to everyone who has supported us. Please keep following!

Item number 2: Hugh had a brilliant run of 360 in Sydney. The show went extremely well, in fact so well, and the weather was so lovely that Hugh and Simon didn't get a chance to send a report of the trip while they were there. Once they've recovered from the jet lag and readjusted to the arctic UK temperature they will write up their adventures so that you can read all about the festival.

Item number 3: Hugh Hughes' Rough Book is still going strong. We hope you have been enjoying the glimpses into Hugh's studio and the things he creates in there. The Rough Book will be continuing for the next few weeks, with new posts on Mondays and Fridays. I'll also be doing a 'non Rough Book' post on Wednesdays. So keep your eyes on the blog as there'll be plenty of new things springing up.

Item number 4: We are very very excited about going to Oxford and Liverpool in March. We'd love to see you there. You can book tickets for the Oxford show (3rd March) by clicking here, and the Liverpool shows (4th, 5th, 6th March) by clicking here.

And last, but by no means least...(in fact you may say I've saved the best for last)...
Our very own Mr Ben Frimston, who you may have seen recently in The Doubtful Guest or in the famous Rowntree's Randoms advert, or just in the picture above, is on the silver screen again. He's starring in a new Burger King advert. Here it is...

EDIT (14 July 2010): Flicking back through some old blog entries, I've just discovered the video has been taken down from YouTube. Sorry that you've missed seeing Ben in that BK advert, but he's currently appearing in a new Dutch beer advert which you can find here! Simon

Hugh Hughes's Rough Book

Happy New Year! It is the sixth day of 2010 and I am "fully" back at work. My brother says calling milk "full" milk is potentially confusing and so he would probably take issue with my statement about being "fully" back at work. To clarify any possible confusion, I mean that I’m back in my studio after taking a break from it.

My break took in Christmas and New Year and a lovely time at home in Anglesey. And a trip to Snowdon. It was not just a trip. It was a treat. A treat of a trip. A tongue-twister of a trip. Better than going to buy sweets on Saturdays when I was an eight-year old boy (the year I loved sweets the most).

The island looked beautiful, lined by the long white-skirted mountains of Snowdon. The air was so clear and the sky so blue it felt like Aunty Glen had been up polishing all night. Spectacular. I did plenty of walking.

2010 has been declared between myself and friends as ‘The Year of Opening New Doors’. It was our joint New Year’s resolution. And one door I’d like to open is to my studio and to the rehearsal room. And so today’s sudden fascination in my studio has led to WORDS AND SYMBOLS.

Once you start to get your head around the idea that a letter, therefore a word, is just a symbol, then a whole new communication system, another visual world of pictorial reality opens.

In fact, I am launching a new series called HUGH HUGHES’ ROUGH BOOK. It is a series of blogs, photos, podcasts etc that shares my on-going work-in-progress. It’s a virtual open studio. It’s rough and ready. I hope you’ll enjoy it and come visit.

Happy New Year!

Hugh Hughes

Hello 2010!

Happy New Year! I hope you all had wonderfully indulgent Christmases with plenty of food and prezzies, snow, carols, decorations and other lovely things, plus brilliant New Year celebrations including bubbly and countdowns and Auld Lang Syne. But alas all good things must come to an end (at least for another 365 days) and 'real life' is back. Of course it's not all terrible and here at Hoipolloi we have many exciting things on the cards. Most excitingly...Sydney. Hugh will be in there performing 360 at the festival. So if you're in Sydney,do go along. If you're not, but you need a holiday, then you should go too. Click here for more info.

As much as I would love to go along for the ride, muggins here will be remaining in Cambridge for the foreseeable future. Aside from freezing my face and fingers on my bike as I cycle around the city in my shiny new shoes, and attempting to stick to my probably un-stickable-to-resolutions, I'll be preparing things for Hugh's trip to Oxford and Liverpool in March. So if you can't make it to Sydney, but you still want to see 360, then here's your chance.

Thanks to Geraint Lewis for the picture of Hugh