What is the Hippodrome, but the people?

I am writing this on 11th April – which is one year to the day since I started at the Hippodrome. (No one has got me a cake yet, but I’ll get over it)

It was a bittersweet moment, as (despite having avoided it for two years) on my final day at my previous job the lateral flow came up with two lines and my period of self-isolation began. Not only did I miss my leaving party, the Olivier Awards and the title decider between Manchester City and Liverpool, I also missed my first day at the Hippodrome.

Thankfully this wasn’t a sign of things to come. In fact, the past year has been very special. In writing this blog, I thought back to the first interview I had at the Hippodrome. It was autumn 2021 and we were (of course) social distancing as Covid cases continued to spike. It’s safe to say the interview process was as rigorous as the safety measures.

I was asked to prepare to answer one simple question: What is the most important thing for the Hippodrome over the next five years? Sometimes the most simple questions are the hardest things to answer. Financial resilience? Audience growth? Inspiring creativity?

Then I thought, the answer is Birmingham. The youngest, most diverse city in Europe and about to hit the cultural spotlight in the Commonwealth Games year. But, to quote one of the region’s better known playwrights in Coriolanus: “What is the city, but the people?”  I said the most important thing for the Hippodrome in the next five years will be people. In the past year, this has been truer than I ever could have imagined.

Audiences

Firstly, it’s about the people in our auditoriums: the 500,000 audience members who share in joy over 500 performances across our Main Stage and Patrick Studio. To me, nothing is better than sitting in one of the boxes to look out across 1,850 faces during a standing ovation. I remember one moment, during a sold-out weekday performance of the musical Waitress, looking out and thinking: this is the best job in the world.

I have always been in awe of the Hippodrome theatres. Shortly after getting the role, a major West End and Broadway producer told me that the Main Stage at the Hippodrome is “the best theatre in the world”. I believe it’s certainly up there with the best auditoria I’ve been in. I also loved the Patrick Studio: a glorious, flexible space bursting with potential.

But I was less aware of the work we do away from the venue including the brilliant festivals programme. Over the past year we presented 313 performances over seven festivals, reaching just short of 200,000 people. This was epitomised during the B-SIDE Hip-Hop Festival, which saw Bullring & Grand Central and Southside transformed with Europe’s biggest hip-hop artists. There were moments of serendipity when some of the world’s greatest breakers met with weekend shoppers, everyone sharing in the extraordinary skill of the dancers and thrill of the music. This work is always done in partnership with specialist and community groups and it has the people of Birmingham at its heart. The results are always outstanding.

Artists and Creatives

One of my favourite things of the past twelve months has been getting better acquainted with the phenomenal creative talent in the West Midlands. The artistic landscape here is rich, innovative, and reflective of this region. But in my conversations with artists, its clear that more can be done to amplify this talent. This is why the Birmingham 2022 Festival was such a significant moment.

I had the pleasure of being at both the opening and closing ceremonies. There were audible gasps at moments; the entrance of the giant bull or Ozzie Osbourne surfacing on a platform will live forever in the memory. It was also a source of immense pride for the whole team when our co-production of Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby was presented to an audience of hundreds of millions on TV. Not to mention the spinetingling moment when former Chair of the Hippodrome board and lifetime friend of the theatre, John Crabtree (now SIR John Crabtree) declared: “My fellow Brummies, my fellow Midlanders, you have been wonderful. You have demonstrated what we all know – that this is truly a global international city and region of enterprise, of energy and great warmth and where we welcome and celebrate our heritage from all over the world and all backgrounds and all faith.”

Birmingham 2022 Festival was also the platform for one of my favourite Hippodrome events of the year, when Soul City Art’s Waswasa: Whispers in Prayer platformed the limitless creativity of Sparkbrook’s own Mohammed Ali. This was just one of the hundreds of events which celebrated artists who imbue pride into the city and region, and stories that celebrate it.

One of the larger examples of this is Joe Lycett’s stand-up show More, More, More, How Do You Lycett? How Do You Lycett? Audiences are bound by secrecy, but suffice to say the whole show felt like a love letter to Birmingham and had the audience in tears. It is one of the (many) reasons why my partner and I chose King’s Heath as the place to make our home.

The work in our theatres (and beyond) is made and curated for the people of Birmingham and the West Midlands. This year, we’ve really seen the creativity of an artistic community that stands up for this city: both what it is and what it can be.

The Hippodrome Team

Then, there are my colleagues at the Hippodrome. The pandemic battered much of the UK economy, with theatre significantly impacted. The Hippodrome’s success as a thriving independent theatre without public subsidy meant it was amongst the most vulnerable. However, I didn’t walk into a venue in disarray, instead I was greeted with limitless ambition and a desire to deliver the best for an audience hungry to return. The mission for the Hippodrome is “to provide goosebumps moments” and everyday I see more and more examples of this.

The general on sale for The Lion King was one of our busiest ever days, but the Information & Sales team worked tirelessly to ensure the best possible service during unprecedented demand. At Christmas, a burst watermain outside cut our supply off, and without water we can’t legally open. I saw a dedicated Customer Service and Comms Teams communicate to audiences with care. I also saw a building and technical team innovate to ensure a temporary water supply was introduced to limit disruption. And there was the time I had the pleasure of attending a Hippodrome Education Network session and saw Ashlee (one of our brilliant team of learning practitioners) deliver a life-changing session.

I am also grateful to have been blessed with a skilled, dedicated and supportive board of trustees. They apply the perfect balance of oversight, rigour and drive to give our team of Directors the confidence to move the Hippodrome forward. I have to say the charity couldn’t wish for better trustees.

To the future

Next year we will celebrate 125 years of the Hippodrome. From circus, to hall of varieties, to one of the busiest theatres in the country, the venue has constantly evolved to reflect an ever changing city. It’s critical that we don’t rest, and we must embrace what is being referred to as a “Golden Decade” for Birmingham: harnessing the energy of the 2022 Commonwealth Games and looking ahead to the arrival of HS2.

I can say on behalf of my incredible colleagues that we will work to ensure that this era of the Hippodrome does justice to our history, while looking to the future. The thread that runs through everything will be the people. In the next couple of months we will publish our new five year strategy. At its heart will be reaching new audiences for all our work and ensuring we continue to diversify our audiences, programme and workforce. It will focus on developing new work made here in Birmingham and continue to champion new voices from the region, and it will look at protecting the incredible legacy of the building and making it fit for the people of the region today.

I may have been here a year, but I knew immediately Birmingham was a special place and the Hippodrome a special theatre. Over the past year I have completely fallen in love with the city, the restaurants, the cultural landscape, and most importantly the people. This job is an honour and a privilege, and I can’t wait to see what the next year will bring.