Action Hero

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.