Latest news with #Hijinx
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Rebellious dance extravaganza to celebrate culture in town centre
As Weymouth and Portland Towns of Culture launch weekend is truly underway, today you can catch a vibrant dance extravaganza celebrating the best of local culture. This morning, Ramshacklicious and Hijinx will be performing in New Bond street Weymouth, between 11.30am and 2.30pm, celebrating the launch of the year long cultural celebration. The free event, Truth, will be a rebellious display of outdoor dance, full of hope and challenging the public norm. The event is free to attend. Local crowds will be invited to join in with games and celebrate through dance in the town centre. Last night, Weymouth and Portland Towns of Culture officially kicked off with a launch party held at Saint Nics Gallery in St Nicholas Street. The exciting celebration of the towns featured live music and performance created by a group of students from Weymouth College. People were also invited to join in on a 'Culture Crawl', a dedicated trail of live performances and cultural happenings across Weymouth. Particular highlights were events hosted at Abigail's Party, at the Weymouth Drama Club, including rehearsals of iconic plays. Events will be happening all across the weekend, including visual displays, video screenings and live music for people to attend. A spokesperson for We Are Weymouth previously said: "Weymouth and Portland Towns of Culture 2025 is an opportunity celebrate what we already do and what we might like to do when inspired by others." For more information, visit:
The Guardian
02-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Housemates review – a dynamic rock'n'roll riff on a global gamechanger in neurodivergent care
Housemates – people banding together to share a living space. What could be more normal? Back in the 1970s, it wasn't; or not for the 100,000 people deemed 'sub-normal' and, under the feeble-minded (control) bill of 1912, segregated and put into institutions – often for life. Two groups of young people challenged this situation: residents of one of those institutions, Cardiff's Ely hospital, and students from the city's university. Together, they brought about a revolution that resulted in the closure of about 90-plus institutions and the creation of a model of supported living that today is copied around the world. Tim Green's play Housemates tells their story as an agit prop-style educational entertainment, combining fast-flowing action, snappy narration, sharp characterisations and live music. Joe Murphy (artistic director of the Sherman) and Ben Pettitt-Wade (artistic director of Hijinx, a theatre company specialising in inclusivity for neurodivergent artists) are the production's joint directors; they showcase the form at its best, putting across a clear message with dramatic impact. We settle into our seats; 1970s hits are belted out by a rocking pub band (made up, it turns out, of the actors/characters we are about to meet). We sing along. The keynote of the evening is fun-inflected, collective engagement, counterpointed by highs of emotion and lows of horror and indignation. The story centres on the friendship between student Jim Mansell and hospital resident Alan Duncan and their shared love of rock'n'roll – and its consequences. The two meet on the day when Alan and his friend Heather discover they are to be taken out somewhere they have never been by someone they have never met. The place is the park; the person is Jim. First among equals in the impressively well-balanced, nine-strong ensemble are Peter Mooney's brilliant Jim and Gareth John's determined Alan – the strength of their connection radiates from the stage. Production and subject matter alike show, practically and affectively, how individuals taking action can transform lives and society. Sign up to Observed Analysis and opinion on the week's news and culture brought to you by the best Observer writers after newsletter promotion Housemates is at the Sherman theatre, Cardiff, until 8 March, then touring at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre and the Torch theatre, Milford Haven
