Hoxton Story - Inspiration

Inspiration

Hoxton was put on the cultural and media map in the 1990s for its fame as a groovy district of loft apartments and the stomping ground for artists that came to be collectively known as the yba’s - Young British Artists. The area was also identified as in severe need of urban regeneration and the government promised an influx of funding to improve housing and social amenities.

Lisa Goldman, Artistic Director of The Red Room and the Red Room team spent periods between 2004 - 2005 interviewing residents of Hoxton housing estates to find out just what has changed for them. Their perspectives form the basis of the production of Hoxton Story. Goldman also took inspiration from the relationship between William Shakespeare and the Hoxton area. Shakespeare was once a Hoxton resident and most of the houses in the surrounding estates are named after characters in several of his plays; the sub-plot of Hoxton Story is loosely based on Romeo and Juliet.