Relentless, is the word that comes up time after time to describe the last 18 months. I think it’s fair to say we’re all pretty tired and I confess it’s not quite how I imagined my first two years at Hijinx…
But a few weeks ago, while sat in a minibus safely out of shot while we made our next short film, I had a little moment of calm as I looked out over the big skies of Snowdonia. I paused, took a deep breath and realised that wherever I looked out, somewhere out there was some Hijinx magic happening.
Just up the road Andrew Tadd, one of our outstanding actors, was working with our indefatigable freelance crew on his scenes, while hundreds of miles south his fellow Hijinx actors Ffi, Iwan and Lindsay were in Brittany, finally back on tour in France with Meet Fred with the rest of the cast and production manager extraordinaire Tom.
Odyssey members were rehearsing for their Christmas return to the Wales Millennium Centre, while our young people’s theatre members were planning and making their next projects. As we wrapped on filming the team in Cardiff were finalising arrangements ahead of workshops with Frantic Assembly, while the theatre team were gearing up for our next digital adventure exploring augmented reality!
Safely back home, with the washing on and dog snoozing, the weekend’s TV viewing was an easy choice with South Academy’s Lindsay Foster starring in that week’s episode of Casualty on BBC One. The week rounded off perfectly with Craith on S4C featuring North Academy actor Justin – we were all hooked #NoSpoilers.
So now it’s time for another pause, another deep breath, and we’re on to the next year, full of activity, creativity and for me infused with a huge amount of gratitude. Gratitude for the whole Hijinx family.
You can’t always see it from the outside, but Hijinx is a massive, dedicated, loving and humbling team experience. A group of staff, actors, participants, families, freelancers and volunteers who relentlessly seek out shared adventures in creativity. I had a few of those adventures in the wet and windy Welsh mountains making the film, and I am certain there will be many more to come. I am grateful for them already.
Diolch i bawb.
Sarah Horner, Chief Executive
Image by Jonathan Dunn
