“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”
That’s not to say ‘Hoggers’ have been idle, far from it!
Fenella Harrop is up to her neck in admin for the annual One Act Play Festival staged at the Arts Centre, Swindon next month. The festival is a unique opportunity for local companies to stage a diversity of theatre and as co-director, Fenella will have been dotting I’s and crossing T’s. I know she would rather be onstage but its people like her that keep theatre alive locally as well as giving performers a chance to enter a nationwide competition and get their work known to a wider audience. It’s here that Whole Hog was born and I personally will always be grateful to Fenella and co-director Ashley Heath for giving us a stage to launch us and set us on our way. A lot of the entries this year are new plays and, without sounding too presumptuous, I’d like to think that Whole Hog paved the way for new work and others have followed and brought some brilliant stuff to the festival.
Becky Cann is living the life of an actor! She is currently touring around Spain in a one woman Theatre in Education show that is thrilling young audiences. Having spoken to her regularly through the power of Facebook and Skype, I know she is having the time of her life and getting to see the world whilst continuing to develop her already brilliant performance skills. It’s given her the confidence to chase the dream of being a pro actor and she is doing us proud!
Other Hog Alumni’s are up to different bits and pieces. Steve Sprosson is passing on years of performance experience to children by running drama classes. Darren Little is hitting the keyboard and is working on a couple of new plays to follow his published ‘Wetwork’ that premièred with Whole Hog in 2013 whilst Maxwell Sly is in full training mode studying theatre at University in London. Dom Bray is continuing to climb ladders and rig lights using his brilliant technical skills for another Swindon company, Madam Renards. He is touring with their production ‘Family Play’ and no doubt will have a big part to play next month when they launch the amazing Swindon Fringe Festival. Jamie Carter is fully involved in the Wroughton Passion Play, an outdoor Easter extravaganza that is being produced by Gatecrash Theatre and shows off real community theatre in action.
So, I now have a new adventure to look forward to. Having re-located to Lincolnshire following redundancy and illness (double-whammy!), I am throwing myself back into productions after nearly a year without theatre…way too long!
I am Assistant Directing for Mask Theatre of Peterborough on their outdoor summer production of ‘Much Ado About Nothing’. Having only directed the play two years ago it is a piece that is still very fresh in my mind. I have my first production meeting this week and it looks like a very original version with live music and dance. It will seem weird to work with new people after the comfort of Whole Hog but I am relishing the challenge. Having attended the auditions, I got a ‘Whole Hog Vibe’ from the Company. Talented people doing what they love and taking the work seriously but not themselves too seriously!
Good luck to Hoggers past and present whatever you are all doing and keep checking the website and updates on Facebook as we may have some exciting news within the next few weeks that might see Whole Hog back in business…
Will keep you posted