Misfits meet the cast of Hijinx’s Housemates!
On Thursday 6th March our Misfits members Beth and Dave took a trip over to Cardiff to see Housemates by Hijinx Theatre, a “rock’ n ‘roll retelling” of the birth of Supported Living. It tells the incredible true story of Alan, a young man born with Down’s syndrome in the 70’s, who wants to stop living at Ely Hospital, and have his own house (and a band!) He befriends Cardiff University student Jim, and together they fight for a revolutionary new opportunity for people with learning disabilities to live in a home of their own, with support!
We had an incredible day seeing the show, and met some of the cast after for an exclusive interview.
Read how the day went below:
Before the show began, we were able to see the original house that the play is based on.
Photo caption: David and Beth with the first house used for supported living!
Then we shared our thoughts on the show:
Dave said: “I have never seen a play like this before it was amazing and emotional. I thought the actors were amazing I really like the band doing the 70’s songs at the beginning and the theatre is a beautiful place. We also got a photo outside the house where it all began for the real Alan.”
Beth said: “I went to see Housemates play in Cardiff, It was amazing, I loved it! When I went in the Sherman theatre it was a big building, nice, and the staff were helpful. I thought the accessibility was fantastic – they had a bag full of fidget toys and ear defenders and there were captions.”
We then went backstage to meet members of the cast, and ask them some questions! We had the pleasure to interview actors Lindsay, Matthew, Richard and Gareth, alongside Hijinx Producer Ellis.
Photo caption: Left to right is Beth and David, with Hijinx cast members Lindsay, Matthew, Gareth and Richard
Interview with Hijinx Theatre
Questions 1: How did you get into theatre?
Lindsay: God that’s a very long story! I joined Barry College to study Pathway to Independence, which basically teaches you life skills. For 2 hours a day we had a lady who would teach us drama, she was impressed with my drama skills and decided to encourage me to audition for a course ran by Mind The Gap, another theatre company similar to ours. And the rest is history! Took a while before I got to Hijinx, but that’s how it started.
Matthew: I’ve always had a love for acting and theatre, as long as I can remember. When I was finishing secondary school I had no idea what I wanted to do but I knew I’d always liked theatre, so my tutor suggested I be an actor – and here I am!
Richard: Well, I guess it started at a very young age because when I was a kid I was always a shepherd or a wise man in the nativity play – perfect role for an atheist to play of course (laughter) – then I started doing Calamity Jane, My Fair Lady – I felt like drama was what really made me come out of my shell, as a shy kid. I also did stand-up comedy for the first time, which was a scary experience first time but it went down a treat. It felt like through school it was the thing that helped me come out of my shell, and so I joined theatre groups and now here we are, I’ve always had a love of acting because it takes you into another world and you’re not you, you’re someone else.
Gareth: When I first started Hijinx, I wasn’t able to speak to anyone at all, and now I can. I also played the part of Captain Hook from college.
Question 2: What does this show mean to you as a person with learning disabilities?
Richard: I like to think it lights the torches for revolution and rebellion, in many ways. It tells a history that is unfortunately not taught in schools, but it bloody well should be. My mum came to see it today and she didn’t know anything about this stuff, and people should know about it.
Also, you know, as stated in the end [of the play] this is an ongoing battle, with people like Donald Trump and Kier Starmer who are cutting benefits and thinking we should go back to asylums – because it worked so great the first time didn’t it! – and this show demonstrates why it’s not a good idea at all and shows how isolating people is the worst idea in the long history of bad ideas. If anything should be promoted more it’s promoting the independence of people with disabilities and autism, and not to infantilise – there’s some infantilisation and patronisation in this play – and stop treating them like children – they’re adults! They’re people! Just like everyone else in the world.
Matthew: Housemates tells a history of how we went from institutional care to supported living, also showing the friendship between Alan and Jim.
Question 3: How did you find out the story of Alan and Jim?
Lindsay: That’s a good question, I have no idea!
Matthew: One of our residents Eve’s grandfather was a nursing assistant at the hospital, actually, and she told the stories about the things that go on in the hospital. Then 5 years ago, it became an audio drama, and then it became the play we all participated in.
Ellis: Yes, during the pandemic when everything moved online the writer Tim Green wrote an audio play, which was just the seed of this play – it was still called Housemates but it was 20 minutes long, and was what this show would eventually become. As we’ve been building this show all these little relationships to the hospital and the story have presented themselves, and even sitting in the café people have come up to the cast talking about their experiences of either living with housemates, or their experience in the hospital, and all of this has come together to shape the show.
Richard: And looking again at that isolation part of things, we would try and experiment with things such as “what if someone saw a chair and didn’t know how to use a chair?” and experimented with things like that, which influenced some of the scenes you saw in the play.
Question 4: If anyone was going into theatre, what advice would you give them?
Matthew: If you ever decide to become an actor there’s three words to recall, you remember these lines you’ll be fine – Confidence, focus, compassion.
Lindsey: Compassion for the craft!
Richard: Also don’t be afraid to look like an ass on stage – it’s about being silly, playfulness, with film too – embrace the silliness!
Question 5: How do you work together with your neurotypical colleagues?
Richard: I just think at the end of the day, because I’ve worked with youth theatre groups before Hijinx, I just think part of the trouble is that when people hear disabled people they spend so much time focusing on the disabled they forget to focus on the people bit, and I tend to look at the people bit more as we are all homosapiens at the end of the day. So I just treat everyone like an ordinary human being, and someone who has a passion for acting. One time I was in the youth theatre and I didn’t know a lot about Aspergers and someone came up to me and said “I thought there was something different about you, and I said ‘Why’s that?’ and he said ‘Because you’re f*****ing awesome”! (laughter) I think you’ve just to see people as people, forgetting the labels, the world will be a better place for it.
Gareth: When I first working with Peter and James, it was really good fun, working with those guys, and now they are my friends.
Question 6: Are there any other roles you’d like to play in the future?
Richard: I’d love to do more TV and Film, it’s a different realm and quite naturalistic. Hijinx did a sitcom called Flatmates that I starred in with Lindsey, and I’ve written a spin-off of that that I want to get off the ground. Also want to do more stand-up comedy.
Gareth: I really want to be famous actor! I really want to be in Eastenders myself and I’d love to do that.
Ellis: As a bad guy, a love interest?
Gareth: I’d really love to be a good guy.
Lindsey: I’d love to be one of those powerful women back in the medieval times who were crucified because they were different, or knew stuff no one else did, or were crucified by the church. I’d love to play a witchy character.
Ellis: Lindsey gets us through rehearsals with crystals and chants and spells.
Lindsey: And a witches hat I bought online!
Matthew: I would love to do TV shows and films actually, I don’t mind particularly what role as long as I get to play a part, and I get to be part of something bigger than myself!
We finish with these lovely words from David, which sums it all up:
“I think Hijinx are such an amazing and talented group of actors, and it was nice to interview some of them after the show. I would just like to thank Hijinx for putting on such a brilliant show and for inviting us to watch it.”
To find out more about Hijinx, look at their website here: https://www.hijinx.org.uk/
