This week the Vault Festival in London kicked off and runs all the way through until the 19th March 2023. Over the next month, we have interviews with acts that are performing at the event. Today we find out all about the show Hide and Seek.

Hide and Seek

Dates: 21st-23rd February
Time: 21:00
Venue: Crescent
Tickets: https://vaultfestival.com/events/hide-and-seek/

Hello! Tell us about Hide and Seek?

Hide and Seek pits two teenage boys against each other in the face of the widespread hatred and prejudice of their small town. Gio has never felt accepted – not by his parents, teachers or peers, who are too busy spreading vicious rumours about him to understand that he’s reaching breaking point. He decides to disappear and hide out in a cave, where his popular classmate Mirko accidentally discovers him. Gio enlists him as an accomplice, begging him to keep his secret despite growing media frenzy over his disappearance. In the cave, the boys embark on an unexpected journey towards self-discovery and acceptance, setting in motion a series of dark consequences.

How did you come up with the name of your show that you’re taking to VAULT Festival?

Hide and Seek is a role-playing childhood game that can be thrilling and also a little scary. I felt that the title suggested something sweet and entertaining, something connected to the joy of childhood, while also alluding to the complex and contradictory relationship we can have with ourselves: dangerously poised between revealing ourselves and hiding from ourselves, between discovering ourselves and escaping from ourselves.

What is your show about?

Through the themes and plot points discussed above, Hide and Seek aims to stimulate reflection and raise awareness about homophobia, bullying, gender and sexual discrimination and to shine a light on how social media, outside pressures and the prejudice passed down by an older generation can be instruments of destruction for teenagers today.

What other shows are you looking forward to seeing at the festival?

I hope to have the chance to see The Unicorn, because it sounds like a sharp take on the ambiguous perception of sexuality in our society. And because I love unicorns.

Have you done the VAULT Festival before? What have been some of your favourite shows todate and why?

This is my very first time and I’m so excited!

What advice would you give to others who want to bring a show to VAULT next year?

I’d say: try to bring to life stories that dig into you personally with ruthless, brutal honesty but that are also universal and capable of speaking to other people, here and now.

What is the best thing about performing at VAULT Festival?

As the leading independent showcase of live performance in the UK, VAULT is our dream venue to present Hide and Seek to a London audience and find out its reaction to the piece! It will be mine and the producer’s first foray into UK theatre in this capacity, and we count on VAULT’s broad reach, its brave programming and its wide appeal to afford an unique opportunity to reach critics, industry professionals and audiences. We hope this will lead to valuable feedback, reviews and hopefully lead to partnerships that will in turn support the play’s future.

What are your three favourite things about London?

The way that theatre is conceived, performed, taught, learnt and seen. So, to put it in three words: growth, awareness, civilization.

Favourite one liner you have done in a show and why?

I’m reminded of one specific line of this show: towards the end of the play, Gio realises he’s in love with Mirko, and tells him: “You invented me. You are my architect”. I think those were poignant words to describe his feelings and, more broadly, how we all sometimes feel when we’re in love.

Who would be your ultimate dream audience member?

In a magical world where time-travel exists, I wish that myself as a child could have the chance to see this show. That he could travel here to the future for a little over an hour, then go back to the past and save himself a lot of tears.

If people want to find out more about you where can they follow you on social media?

@tobia_tito_rossi and you can follow the show at @hideandseek_uk

And finally in three words – Why should people come and see the show?

To accept ourselves.