We saw the brilliant Hogwallops at The Hull Truck Theatre over the weekend. It’s the first time I have been to The Hull Truck theatre and I am always nervous driving to new places. I parked at the top of St Stephen’s shopping centre and we had lunch there (all you can eat Chinese – a bargain at £6 per person) before seeing the matinee performance in the afternoon.
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It was a high energy mix of slapstick, physical comedy and acrobatics. We go to the theatre a lot and my kids love it, but this was really different for them, and they emerged looking a bit stunned at it all! It combines all the fun elements of a circus, like the trapeze, the clowns (not scary traditional clowns, more clowning around clowns – no funny wigs or facepaints), jugglers and acrobats.
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It was colourful and mesmerising. Some of the acts triggered my fear of heights and the kids sat there with open mouths for much of it. Amazingly talented performers. Master T now wants to take a circus skills workshop! The music was really atmospheric and performed on the most part by a musician stood just to one side of the stage. It really brought the whole thing together (and I was impressed with his multi-tasking!). In fact, I was impressed with the whole thing. If you get chance to see it, then do. It will appeal to a large age range I think as it’s such a physical rather than verbal performance.
The Hogwallops has been a huge hit at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for 2 years running and has been touring around the country extensively. It is in great demand by venues across the UK and is possibly the only show to feature a high flying trapeze zimmer frame! The show is created and performed by Lost in Translation Circus, a UK based company with an international membership. Two of the company, Roisin Morris and Massimiliano Rossetti are current Guinness World Record holders for most somersaults on a Korean Cradle.