The Traverse – in its never ending quest for the unique and the inventive brings us a real treat this October in the form of  The Wonderful World of Hugh Hughes.

This Welsh storyteller has taken concepts as bizarre and extreme as parts of Britain breaking off and as small and simple as the death of a pet and managed to wring equal amounts of warm, engaging, quirky material out of each.

It would be easy to take Hughes’ choice of subject matter and his charming and almost childlike delivery and dismiss what he does as entertaining but insubstantial, but there’s a brain as well as a heart at work in these shows and a quality of reflection which travels with the audience long after they’ve left the theatre.

Featuring music, dance and multimedia as well as the simple gift of storytelling Hughes’ world easily warms and submerges you.

All three of Hughes’ shows are on offer at the Traverse from the 5th of October, Floating, the tale of Anglesey’s unplanned independence, Story of a Rabbit which is… well… the story of a rabbit and 360 a meditation on friendship, childhood and homecoming. All this plus extras including a film and post show discussions helping to frame his next show make this a very inclusive and positive theatrical experience.

The Interview:

For anyone who hasn’t had the pleasure of seeing one of your shows how would you describe what you do?

Some people describe what I do as multimedia, others think of it as performance lecture but actually, I don’t mind what you call it, as long as you come along in the first place. More than anything else, I love meeting audiences, shaking hands and saying hello as they come into the theatre and talking to them and sharing with them as directly and personally as I can. I mean, they’ve all come to see my show, it would feel a bit rude if I didn’t say hello and thank you! And I like to create a feeling of openness in the room. I think that’s when my stories work best.

Performing alone is quite a challenge – I don’t even use props or costumes or multimedia in 360

You’re frequently referred to as an emerging artist, although you’ve now been around now for five years. Can you describe what life was like for the pre-emerged Hugh Hughes?

Before Floating I was working mainly from my home town Llangefni, on Anglesey in North Wales, living in the town I grew up in. My father gave me a camera and so I spent lots of time taking photos. I used to make slide shows of Beached Whales and show them at the Town Hall. That’s where I met Shon from Hoipolloi. He invited me to make my first theatre show, which became Floating, and from that point onwards, I’ve been labelled as being an Emerging Artist.

It’s said you deal in whimsy, but there’s also always a message to what you do. Want do you want people to take away from one of your shows?

I think that my shows contain some common themes, like fantasy and the imagination, the importance of human relationships and I suppose a basic desire to share my own experiences with audiences, as honestly and directly as I can, in the hope that my stories will make people laugh and think and that people will be able to relate them back to their own lives.

Your tales are very much based in your native Wales, but since you broke through you’ve travelled and performed all over the world. Will these experiences ever find their way into your work?

My homeland of Anglesey is hugely important to me; it’s where I come from and has very much shaped who I am. Although I’m not literally saying that I look like the outline of Anglesey, as that would be ridiculous. Imagine that, a man shaped like the Isle of Anglesey.

Because of the island’s importance to me, that’s why the shows and the stories I tell are based there. But yes, it’s true that I’ve had amazing opportunities to travel right across the world and this is now very much shaping who I am today. I’m sure these experiences will find there way into my work… in fact, the film I’ve just created, How I Got Here, combines both Anglesey, the place I come from, and also the people and places that I’ve travelled to and connected with over the past few years.

In 360 the audience themselves are like human projectors

The stories you tell on stage feature people you know and have known you all your life, have you had any feedback from them as to how they feel about what you do?

My Mum is very proud of me. She laminates all of my press cuttings and keeps them in a special file. My brother Derwyn has been down to see me perform in London. He spent his day down by the river and left quickly after the show to get his train back to Bangor. He is so supportive but also very quiet although I think I’m starting to read his silences better. And my friend Gareth was nervous and scared about being immortalised on stage in 360 but I think he likes what I’ve done with the story of our friendship. He enjoys the connection that I’ve created with the audiences that come along. They all appear in my film and I’m excited that they now have the chance to share their thoughts more directly with audiences.

In the past you’ve always worked with collaborators on stage but your last show, 360 was a solo effort. What differences do you find between the two?

I really enjoy working with Sioned (in Floating) and Dafydd (in Story of a Rabbit). It’s great to have their support and input into the shows. Performing alone is quite a challenge – I don’t even use props or costumes or multimedia in 360. But I think that makes it even more intimate and allows me to connect even more directly with audiences.

Sioned has said that whereas in the first two shows we had slide projectors to provide images to help the audience see things, in 360 the audience themselves are like human projectors, and they have to project into the empty space through their eyes using their imaginations.

Finally since we started with your past the obvious question to end with is: What does the future hold for Hugh Hughes?

The future holds lots of exciting things. Some I know about and some I don’t. For example, I know that after the Traverse, we’re taking The Wonderful World to Dublin Theatre Festival and that in early 2011 I’m off to Canada to perform Floating with Sioned. I’m also working on stories from my childhood and growing up in Llangefni, and audiences can see what I’ve been up to with this project in Stories from an Invisible Town which is on at the Traverse on Friday 8 October. I’m also starting to work on projects that don’t take place in the theatre, such as developing my new website, www.hughhughes.me

Don’t miss Hugh @ the Traverse Theatre this month:

360 – 5, 7, 9 October

Floating – 6, 7, 9 October

Stories of a Rabbit – 7, 9 October

Stories from an Invisible Town – 8 October

Hugh Hughes – How I got Here – 8 October