Cardiff theatre company launches 12 days of virtual events

Following the success of an online festive festival of creativity in 2020, Hijinx will once again be bringing together participants from PAWB, its pan-Wales inclusive community programme, to create, perform and engage online in the 12 Days of PAWB.

Cardiff based theatre company, Hijinx, makes outstanding theatre productions with learning disabled and/or autistic actors.Due to the pandemic, Hijinx’s 2020 festive Odyssey performance at Wales Millennium Centre had to be postponed until 2021. Instead a reimagined seasonal gathering took place online as part of 12 Days of PAWB.

Hijinx will be programming 12 Days of PAWB as predominantly virtual events, which will feature its adult company Odyssey, its young people’s groups in Cardiff and Bangor, Drama Foundations groups and Pathways.

12 Days of PAWB starts on 1 December with the fundraising launch and a dedicated day of fundraising on 22 December. As part of the 12 Days of PAWB, Hijinx has set themselves the challenge of raising £1,200, asking people to kindly donate £12 towards the Hijinx PAWB programme. PAWB runs throughout the year across Wales. Donations will go directly to running PAWB and its programme of activity.

Regarded as Wales’ leading inclusive theatre company, Hijinx produces high quality performances and activities. It strives for equality by making outstanding art with learning disabled and/or autistic actors on stage, on screen, on the street, in the workplace, locally, nationally and internationally for Wales and for the world.

“Creating the opportunity for participants and audiences to engage online and in person is so important for us. We won’t stop doing both. We have seen the impact it has had and how access for both is needed. Our Social Impact Report research shows the performing arts are a vehicle for health and wellbeing, and increase happiness in people’s lives. For every £1 invested in Hijinx we turned that into £4.84 of social value. That’s a grand total of £4.5 million. We do stretch our money to deliver as much as we can, but we need your help to keep supporting what we do and in the future.”

Sarah Horner, Chief Executive said:

“Last year’s event was so successful in bringing everyone together after the disappointment of not creating something to be performed at Christmas. This year, as well as performing in person our Hijinx Odyssey show, Pinocchio and the Northern Lights, at Wales Millennium Centre, we will continue to run our 12 Days of PAWB throughout December showcasing the many wonderful projects that our participants have been working on right across Wales. We know many of our participants and audiences still want to continue to engage with us online and we want to ensure we can connect with them at this time of year.”

Jon Dafydd-Kidd, Head of Participation said:

Some of the activity you can expect to see includes:

Hijinx will be collaborating with illustration students from University of South Wales, Cardiff Metropolitan University and Coleg Menai who will exhibit their work on the Hijinx website, launching on the 3rd Day of PAWB, 6 December. Their work has been inspired by attending different PAWB group sessions, both online and in-person.

Hijinx’s South based Young People’s theatre group Telemachus will be sharing a digital video on Wednesday 8 December of their recent project Light from the Past. Telemachus is a sister project to Odyssey and is an inclusive group for young people with and without learning disabilities aged 16-24.

Telemachus, North Youth People’s Theatre and Odyssey will be hosting an interactive online community workshop on 13 December – booking is required.

Released last year as part of 12 Days of PAWB, Vaguely Artistic’s Christmas Single will be shared online again on Boxing Day. Vaguely Artistic was sponsored by Cardiff & Vale Health Charity and Arts & Business Cymru to create a Christmas single and video and featured a host of familiar faces.