Once upon a time in a land far, far away, two children ran away in search of freedom but found themselves lost… in the hood’
Welcome to the Ruff Endz Estate, the home of the vinyl spinning DJ Spinderella, and vivacious rapper MC Rap-on-Zel, both of whom have caught the eye of D-List reality TV celebrity Prince. Then there is Lil Red, a singer who has just signed a deal with Wolf, the manager of Big Teef Records. She secretly has feelings for music producer Jaxx (who lives in the Basement), who is struggling with debt, is late on the rent and desperately avoiding the Landlord’s eviction notice. A desperate Jaxx enters into some dodgy dealings with The Giant of Beanstalk Towers, who lives in the Penthouse.
The children meet the Landlord, who sends them out to work for him with the task of finding four gifts for his daughter, Rap-on-Zel’s 18th birthday. In return he promises to see them out of the hood and provide them with a bus ticket to get home safely. They only have 4 days to find: an iPhone as white as milk, a hoodie as red as blood, weave as yellow as corn, and trainers as pure as gold.
After gaining a coveted position at The Place’s Hothouse course in 2005, ZooNation was able to develop the idea for its first full length show, Into the Hoods. Sadler’s Wells commissioned Into the Hoods and it was performed for the first time at the Peacock Theatre in February 2006. The two performances were so warmly received that Sadler’s Wells invited ZooNation to further develop the show and bring it back for a full week in the summer of the same year. Following this run and after a sell-out five-star award-winning season at the Edinburgh Fringe, the production was licensed to Phil McIntyre Entertainment who produced the show at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2007 and for its opening on the West End stage in 2008.
Into the Hoods became both the first ever hip-hop dance show in the West End and one of the longest running dance shows in the West End’s history, with a five month run at the Novello Theatre. The cast of Into the Hoods won the 2009 What’s On Stage Theatregoers’ Choice Award for Best Ensemble Performance, and Kate Prince was nominated for the 2009 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer. In 2008 the cast of Into the Hoods were invited to create a special performance for Nelson Mandela’s 90th Birthday Celebrations in Hyde Park. In 2009 and 2010, The South Bank Centre staged two successful revivals of Into the Hoods, firstly with a sell-out 3 week Christmas run in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, followed by a summer season in the Royal Festival Hall.
In 2015, Into the Hoods: Remixed returned to The Peacock, followed by a UK Tour to; Wolverhampton Grand Wolverhampton, The Grand Theatre Blackpool, The Orchard Theatre Dartford, Curve Leicester, Hall for Cornwall Truro, The Lyceum Sheffield, Brighton Dome Brighton, Mayflower Theatre Southampton, Marlowe Theatre Canterbury and HOME Manchester.
“Classic for all the family”
“Funk-fuelled Hip Hop joy”
“Outrageously entertaining”
For more information on booking this production please contact Chantal Walters at chantal@zoonation.co.uk or Annie Taylor Gooby at annie@zoonation.co.uk
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