Hoxton Hall to stage live soap drama with plot decided by audiences

Hoxton Hall is creating a live soap-drama inspired by its east London communities, which will be developed and performed over five weeks in collaboration with audiences.

Hoxton Street will be presented as a series of half-hour plays at the London multi-arts venue, with a full-length play developed across several weeks, in a format promising to "break the mould of traditional theatre".

Inspired by TV soap operas, each episode will end with two cliffhangers, and audiences will vote to decide what happens next. 

Writers Oladipo Agboluaje and Lil Warren will pen the story as it develops, with the final two weeks of the run finishing with an omnibus of the complete play.

The cast features actors with experience on British soaps and theatre, including Helen Pearson, Alan Turkington and EastEnders star Linda Marlowe. The 15-strong cast will also include community actors making their professional stage debuts. 

Hoxton Street is based on a concept by its director Karena Johnson, Hoxton Hall’s artistic director and chief executive, following a pilot episode in early 2020. The full show will form the centrepiece of the venue’s #Class season, exploring what class means in 21st-century London. 

Running alongside the live soap will be a promenade sound piece, downloaded via a free app, which will take audiences around the Hoxton locations featured in the play and introduce them to characters. 

Agboluaje described writing a soap drama for the stage as a "unique venture", adding: "We spent a lot of time in Hoxton trying to capture the essence of the place and we hope it’s reflected in the writing. 

He said the creative team had drawn inspiration from several TV soaps to get an understanding of their structure and conventions, and worked with Johnson to translate them for the stage.

"I’m eager to see what audiences make of it, particularly the people of Hoxton," he added.

Hoxton Street will run from April 7 to May 28, with episode one premiering on April 7, and the full play performed between May 18 and 12, as well as May 25 and 28.