Metamorphosis at Good The@tre Festival & Awards 2020

Hijinx’s critically acclaimed online digital performance, Metamorphosis, has been chosen as a finalist at an international fundraising event, the Good The@tre Festival 2020 which will showcase the interactive experience online on Saturday 28 November, before the award winners of the festival are announced.

Cardiff based theatre company, Hijinx, makes outstanding theatre productions with learning disabled and/or autistic actors. It’s acclaimed theatre work is original, surprising, edgy, and funny and is in huge demand across the globe, with productions including Meet Fred, The Flop and Into the Light (with Frantic Assembly) and has travelled to over 20 countries in recent years.

Metamorphosis is inspired by Franz Kafka’s classic novella, and reimagined for online audiences, whilst exploring the advantages, limitations and comedic value of video calls. Metamorphosis was an experiment for Hijinx in recreating the highly interactive nature of Hijinx’s productions via the functionality that Zoom offers.

It had its world premiere earlier this year at Green Man: Festival of Streams online digital festival in August. For those who missed the experience, audiences are now able to engage with the performance again on Saturday 28 November 8.30am and 9.30pm (GMT) and help support the arts as part of a fundraiser.

Metamorphosis follows the story of Gregor Samsa who wakes up one morning from uneasy dreams to find he had turned into a monstrous verminous bug. He is incapacitated, confined to the house, unable to work and unable to hold his family close. This metadrama sees the cast of 11, all of whom have awoken to a different world, forced to reinterpret their profession, their identity, their very worth to the world.

During the performance, the audience will be able to interact with Zoom's polling functions and may even become part of the action, so should be dressed appropriately, or at the very least, dressed. The Hijinx cast will perform live from their own home, where an unexpected extra (dog, cat or child) could appear at any given time.

Hijinx Academy actress Ffion Gwyther, who has recently become a YouTube sensation with her lockdown videos and catchphrase 'cwtch in and have a drink', will feature in the online theatre production, alongside a further four Hijinx Academy actors and five Hijinx tutors. The Hijinx Academy is the only professional performance training course for actors with learning disabilities in Wales.

The Good The@tre Festival 2020 will also see finalists perform from Brazil, the USA, the UK, Finland, Sweden, Germany, Cape Verde, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Iran, India, Singapore before being judged by a panel from the Philippines, Singapore, India, Italy, Finland, the UK and the USA. The awards include Best Performance, Best Script, Most Innovative use of Technology, Best Direction & Best Production will be given out for eplays.

The Good The@tre Festival & Awards is a fundraising event as well as recognising those who have created during the current closure of performances spaces across the world. The Festival and Awards is designed to raise vital funds for theatre artisans in India who have no means to sustain their lives. The Season Pass to access the entire festival is FREE online from 21 – 29 November but donations still welcome at this time of need. https://www.theredcurtaininternational.org/donate

Artistic Director of Hijinx, and Director of Metamorphosis, Ben Pettitt-Wade said, “We are very proud to have been selected to be part of this festival. Not at least because we are keen supporters of the cause which they represent - all funds from the festival will go towards artists in the most need in India. This global pandemic has affected the arts all over the world and inevitably those who have been worst effected at this time are sole traders and freelancers which is certainly true in U.K. We are very proud to be involved in anything that can help those in most need at this time.”

Hijinx is generously supported by the Arts Council of Wales, The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, The Julia and Hans Rausing Trust, Lloyds Bank Foundation, Morrisons Foundation, The Rayne Foundation and BBC Children in Need.