Our time at Hawkwood was a breath of fresh air. We loved every moment of it.
Having our residency at the beginning of January helped us reconnect with one another and remember why being in the same room together is so important, as theatre makers- especially after so long on Zoom.
We had the opportunity to disconnect from our daily busy lives, be present in the beautiful natural surroundings and come together in our own dedicated rehearsal space. The walks and woods around Hawkwood are breath-taking, and were a real inspiration to our current project. We were also lucky to have some sunny days!
The accommodation was very nice, private rooms in our own block. And the food was incredible! We had tea breaks at 11 and 4, with breakfast, lunch and dinner in between, which was hugely helpful to structure the working day. Following an external time structure is unusual for us but it really helped to encourage us to step away, take a breather and come back to the room refreshed. Hawkwood have really thought about artists in every aspect of their stay.
The rehearsal space was large and warm and we enjoyed having our meals with other artists. We even got to show some work to two other groups and play together. Hawkwood helped us come together and decide what our next steps are within our theatre company, in a creative way, in a nurturing setting.
We devised new material, and were able to invite two of our external collaborators in for one day, our puppet maker/director and our writer, which was the first time they had met properly, so to have that space to work together was incredible!
We will never forget January 2022, after such a difficult two years, it was an opportunity to reset, reconnect and build the foundations for the next stage of our project.
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