Hijinx wins Best Director and Best Innovative Use of Technology for Metamorphosis at the International Good The@tre Festival Awards 2020
Cardiff based theatre company, Hijinx has won two awards at the International Good The@tre Festival Awards for its online interactive performance, Metamorphosis.
Audiences from over 30 countries worldwide came together online to see artists perform at the international fundraising event organised by The Red Curtain from 21-29 November. Following the last performances, a jury of 11 celebrated theatre thought-leaders from seven countries deliberated on the best in the online festival.
Hijinx’s critically acclaimed online digital performance, Metamorphosis, which was inspired by Franz Kafka’s classic novella, has won two awards – Most Innovative Use of Technology and Hijinx’s Artistic Director Ben Pettitt-Wade won Best Director.
“We were very proud to have been selected to be part of this festival and we are delighted to have won two awards. Back in May we were diving into the unknown when we started to explore whether it would be possible to make a live, interactive show on Zoom. The success of the show is down to our brilliant cast and crew that threw themselves into the task, and revelled in an opportunity to be creative in these dark times.”
Ben Pettitt-Wade, Artistic Director
Metamorphosis was originally an experiment for Hijinx in recreating the highly interactive nature of Hijinx’s productions via the functionality that Zoom offers all performed from the casts home. The audience were able to interact with Zoom's polling functions and some audiences even became part of the action during the performance.
It had its world premiere earlier this year at Green Man: Festival of Streams online digital festival in August.
"Metamorphosis is such a brilliant play and has been done in so many wonderful ways, I didn't think that an online production would come close to carrying it off. Hijinx surpassed all expectations with this. It was original, contemporary, dark, moving, funny. It was fast-moving and smart and brilliantly performed."
Juror, Good The@tre Festival Awards
The Good The@tre Festival 2020 was a fundraising event designed to raise vital funds for theatre artisans in India who have no means to sustain their lives. The finalists included performers from Brazil, the USA, the UK, Finland, Sweden, Germany, Cape Verde, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Iran, India and Singapore.
Hijinx was able to participate in the event with support from British Council Wales. The prize money of $750 for the two awards has been donated back to the event in support of its cause.
“This global pandemic has affected the arts all over the world and unfortunately those who have been worst affected at this time are our freelancers, who are the lifeblood of our industry. One of the reasons we created this project was to be able to provide some employment for our own Freelancer family while our theatres are closed. Therefore, we are very proud that now the piece we created has been able to support artists in India who are in severe need of help.”
Ben Pettitt-Wade, Artistic Director
