On the 9th of April, I boarded a train to London for the second time in four months. It has always interested me how everything is somehow brought back to the capital city, from central government to the creative industries. Exploring homelessness and the ideas surrounding poverty will ultimately situate you in an urban environment, as more highly populated locations tend to lead to greater competition for housing and jobs. When the amount of places to call home and ways to make a living dwindle in a community, the likelihood of becoming homeless increases significantly. The visit down south was to participate in State of the Nation, a two-day event created by the Museum of Homelessness. This newly found organisation want to promote ‘a new way for people to learn about homelessness through research, collecting and public engagement.’ Walking into the Tate Modern (more specifically the Switch House) to convene with others around the ideas of being homeless did feel odd at times, mainly due to the grandeur of the building I was entering. Unfortunately, my schedule only pertained me to be able to visit on the Sunday and some very important talks were planned on the previous day, by people who are well renowned for their work understanding and preventing homelessness. However, I could still witness the exhibitions and performances that spread across both days. There were moments in the day that I found very powerful and thought provoking, some of which may influence the performance aspect of our work significantly. David Tovey: A Soldier’s Story put into stark detail the traumatic events that can conspire when someone from the armed forces returns to everyday normality. This was done by dressing plastic shop models in army uniform, turning their backs towards the onlookers and placing verbatim text from soldiers on the clothing that bluntly informed the audience of how they became rough sleepers. Although we were aware that the plight of the armed forces would not be a focus in our performance, this element of the exhibition truly captured the brutality of the homelessness crisis. Further in the day, after picking up a Pavement Magazine, a company that creates reading material with useful information for homeless people, I met a lady named Suzie. We conversed for nearly forty minutes, in which time she told me about how she had been a teacher for 20 years in Holland and had found herself homeless in London in early 2016. This really brought home to me that this could happen to anyone, from any walk of life, who falls on hard times. What gave me real hope about our project is that Suzie informed me that she had performed with Cardboard Citizens, a theatre group well known for its projects working with homeless and ex-homeless people. She informed me that finding Cardboard Citizens changed her life and that she definitely believed that creativity can be a re-birth of someone’s broken spirit. I will admit I had doubts about what a performance can do to in the grand scheme of things, yet Suzie reminded me that however informed I am of the homeless situation, she believed there were millions still that were too unaware. This concept of poverty being the fault of the victims cannot stand when the evidence is categorically out there to prove it wrong. I will not keep this blog excerpt long because these entries should be short and sweet, digestible in fact. What I will say is that this visit to London was highly influential and has given me many ideas for the work HUT are going to develop.