home sweet home was co-created by Abigail Conway and Lucy Hayhoe in 2006 for their graduate show at Goldsmiths College, University of London. The piece was born from a desire for adults to play, and to create an environment that encouraged its audience to participate and take ownership of their individual experience.

The project gives value to individual contribution inviting participants to create a house personalized in their own unique way.  The cumulative effect of each individual contribution results in the building of a community that has a collective identity.  Each house contributes to the thematic geography of the piece as it develops over the course of the run.

Participants lose the feeling that they are part of an installation and become immersed in the fiction of their home-made town. The project facilitates role-play and interaction through it’s various communication tools. Adults are re-introduced to the notion of play, an experience not that normally associated with a visit to a theatre or gallery, it is their own to define.

home sweet home has taken place in varied contexts and venues over the last ten years including; galleries, theatre's, educational and architectural environments.

home sweet home has toured extensively and delivered the project in six different languages and across four continents. Nationally, it has been presented at; Shunt lounge, SPILL Festival,  London Festival of Architecture, LIFT, The Barbican, Southbank Centre and The National. International includes; The Skirball Centre in LosAngeles, USA, The Cultch, Vancouver, PerthInternational Arts Festival, Australia, Kyoto Experiment, Japan, Theaterfestival Basel, Switizerland,Berliner Festspiele, Germany, Velo Theatre, France and ARTSNAP, Hong Kong, China.

*To see where else we have presented please visit our Tour Dates page.

In 2009 home sweet home was selected to form part of the British Council Showcase at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.  At Edinburgh home sweet home was short-listed for a Total Theatre award in thecategory of, innovation, interaction and immersion.

home sweet homehas proved to be a desired educational tool and the company has deliveredseveral INSET days in London and national primary schools, working with childrenand staff to deliver their own version.

Abigail Conway is a visual artist and creator of live art. Abigail works with material objects, craft and actions to create playful site-specific installations and immersive encounters for audiences. Her work crosses many disciplines, including; sound and video design, music technology, nature, architecture and performance.

Abigail’s work has been presented in galleries, theatres, architecture festivals and showcased by the British Council. It has been presented nationally across the UK including: Battersea Arts Centre, ICA, Southbank Centre, The Barbican, The National, Forest Fringe, The Wellcome Collection, Attenborough Centre for Contemporary Arts, Wales Millennium centre, Latitude and Summerhall. Internationally, her work has toured Europe, China, Australia, South Korea, Japan, Canada and the USA.

Abigail is a part time Senior Lecturer in Theatre at University Chichester. Abigail’s research focuses on instruction led performance and the politics surrounding participatory arts. Her practise as an artist is centred around a methodology called, The Hobby project.

Lucy Hayhoe is a live artist making installation based experiences and performances. Her work ranges from intimate encounters to large-scale installations. Hayhoe is interested in collective creation and open structures that encourage social engagement. She graduated from Goldsmiths College in 2006 where she studied Drama and Theatre Arts and is currently preparing to undertake an MA in Narrative Environments at Central Saint Martins in September 2017.

Hayhoe also makes work as part of artistic duo Haworth + Hayhoe. Haworth + Hayhoe make site specific performance interventions. Through elements of surprise and play their work affords participants an alternative experience of everyday spaces. These works include The Library Project, Citizens Exchange Bureau, New National Parks and Mobile Border Unit. Their work has been presented at Koganecho Bazaar Yokohama Japan, Begehungen no10 Chemnitz Germany,Festival Belluard Bollwerk International Fribourg Switzerland, City Arcadia Coventry UK, Buzzcut Glasgow UK, The Basement Brighton UK, Camden Peoples Theatre London UK, Discovery Season at the New Library of Birmingham UK and Ausform Bristol UK.