HOODWINK combines indoor and outdoor touring in the UK and abroad with site specific and participatory performance projects. The company has built a reputation for its unique combination of striking visual images, unexpected animation of set and props, and a distinctive comedy. Hoodwink aims to stretch audience expectations of what theatre can be, where it can take place, and what the audience?s role might be within it. The company is funded by Arts Council England. All the shows below are entirely non verbal and small scale.
Leap of Faith
A celebration of the human aspiration to fly: paper wings, balloons, feathers, flying monks and aerobicycle displays. This is an elegant comedy featuring music and extraordinary visual effects. An uplifting show suitable for all ages.
Pleasure Garden
Pleasure Garden was commissioned by Henley Festival and Stockton International Riverside Festival. The show is an intimate performance in a formal garden. Audiences glimpse the innocent moments of Adam?s first bite of the apple, through love letters and peacocks to the thunderous age of steam. Groups are escorted into the garden for approximately 15 minutes for bees, blossom, extravagant characters and elegant comedy. Cast of four.
?I was delighted to see your new show, Pleasure Garden, cleverly thought out and charmingly executed. The show carries all the Hoodwink hallmarks: attention to detail, rounded characters, English witticisms and charismatic performances.?
Caterina Loriggio. The National Theatre
Tock Tick – The cuckoo won?t call. Mice are taking over the clock tower. Impossible ladders, eccentric bird lures, serenades and origami. An epic finale of levitation, dancing flowers and a clock tower that spins with delight. HOODWINK’s trademark mix of physical comedy, visual flair, music and an extraordinary set. Off beat, non verbal and striking images – a funny and ingenious show that will delight all ages. Cast of three.
?Tock Tick is an enchanting and imaginative piece of work. I really love the combination of the show?s mechanical eccentricities and deadpan acting.?
Stewart Collins, Henley Festival
Gastronomic – An elaborate theatrical feast, centred around our magical twelve foot table, that shakes off all the cutlery, lifts up to strand our diner in the air and finally, literally does walk off in disgust! A succession of unpredictable courses from exploding crab to motorised puddings and flies in the soup. Cast of three.
??a superb surreal piece of drama. I have seldom laughed so much ? this was just so silly, but clever too, with perfect timing, amazing props (a walking table, an exploding fish?..), all delivered with incredible style and panache.?
What’s on South West
GASTRONOMIC and TOCK TICK are approximately 35 minutes long.
PLEASURE GARDEN is performed in 2 x 2 hour blocks.