Action Hero's HOKE'S BLUFF to Kick Off UK Tour Tomorrow; Plays London Nov 18-29

Action Hero: Hoke's Bluff kicks off a UK Tour tomorrow, Wednesday 8th October and continues through Wednesday 10th December. London dates: Tuesday 18th November - Saturday 29th November (London Press Night: Wednesday 19th November, 7.30pm).

Award-winning performance company Action Hero's Hoke's Bluff, critically acclaimed from a run at the Edinburgh Fringe 2013 as part of the British Council showcase, now goes on tour this Autumn. Hoke's Bluff is a contemporary theatre piece inspired by American teen sports movies, looking at how the cliches and conventions that we all know from these films can still pack a real emotional punch.

Hoke's Bluff navigates the curious territory in which our emotional responses to American dreams outweigh our rational understanding of what America (and the Western world) really stands for. By attempting a heartfelt and sincere rendition of schmaltzy, hackneyed sports movies it gently reveals both the ambient violence and the genuine beauty that hide within these seemingly innocuous cornball stories, creating "a darkly poetic meditation on the suburban and cashed-strapped reality of life for most contemporary Americans" (The Scotsman).

With a nostalgic yearning for the simplicity of a world that never really existed, Hoke's Bluff meets its audience on the bleachers and tells them an underdog story that's been told a million times before. It reworks the hackneyed formulas of high school storylines and the cheap sentimentality of inspiring locker room speeches to find out what it means to be a winner (on the inside). 'See why this maverick company, with its engaging DIY aesthetic, is attracting so much attention' (The Guardian).

Everything rests on this one free throw. On this one last shot. On this power play. On these last few seconds. Action Hero have got their game faces on. Bring it.

Engage with the team at teamspiritwildcats.wordpress.com.

DETAILS:

Hoke's Bluff

Wednesday 8th October - Wednesday 10th December

8th October - 11 October: Bristol Old Vic, Bristol
14th October: Axis Arts Centre, Crewe
16th October: The Showroom, Chichester
21st October - 22nd October: South Street Arts Centre, Reading
24th October - 25th October: Contact, Manchester

12th November: The Performance Centre, Penryn
15th November: Brighton Dome, Brighton
18th November - 29th November: Shoreditch Town Hall, London
2nd December: Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth
4th December - 6th December: Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry
10th December: Peninsula Arts, Plymouth

Run time: 75 minutes

@actionherolive, #HokesBluff, #GoWildcats

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Action Hero - Action Hero is the collaboration between UK artists Gemma Paintin and James Stenhouse. They make live art and performance that seeks to use audiences as collaborators and co-conspirators. Whilst exploring the epic, they create performance that is intimate, distinctive and invigorating. Action Hero have toured to theatres, bars and public spaces across 5 continents and have performed to audiences everywhere from an old cinema in Bangkok to Shanghai Grand Theatre to a Satan's Riders Motorcycle club house in Tasmania and a blues bar in Texas on the same stage as James Brown (but not at the same time!). They have been shortlisted for several awards and won an Austin (Texas) Critic's Table Award in 2013. Gemma and James live and work in Bristol, UK and Hoke's Bluff is their forth UK tour.

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