Description
Book SynopsisThis collection of three hip hop plays by Conrad Murray and his Beats & Elements collaborators Paul Cree, David Bonnick Junior and Lakeisha Lynch-Stevens, is the first publication of the critically acclaimed theatre-maker's work. The three plays use hip hop to highlight the inequalities produced by the UK's class system, and weave lyricism, musicality and dialogue to offer authentic accounts of inner-city life written by working-class Londoners. The plays are accompanied by two introductory essays: The first gives a specific social and historical context that helps readers make sense of the plays, the second positions hip hop as a contemporary literary form and offers some ways to read hip hop texts as literature. The collection also includes a foreword by leading hip hop theatre practitioner Jonzi D, interviews with the Beats & Elements company, and a glossary of words for students and international readers.
Trade ReviewA show with something to say, and a stylish way of saying it. * The Stage (on High Rise Estate of Mind) *
If there were thousands more like Murray who managed to ‘breakthrough’ from a working class background to the mainstream Arts, the landscape would be very different to what it is today. * Breaking the Fourth Wall *
Its dramatic authenticity is pitch perfect. * Exeunt *
Table of Contents- Foreword - Class and UK Hip Hop (essay) - Hip hop lyricism (essay) The Plays: -
No Milk for the Foxes by Paul Cree and Conrad Murray - Weaving hip hop lyricism with comic naturalism, this play tells the story of two security guards on zero-hours contracts working the night-shift at a washing machine components factory. -
DenMarked by Conrad Murray - This solo performance is an autobiographical story that weaves hip hop with Shakespeare’s
Hamlet. It narrates Conrad’s account of growing up in a violent family in South London, as an abused mixed-race child in the social care system, trying to make his way in the world and seek reconciliation with his absent father. -
High Rise e(S)tate of Mind by David Bonnik Junior, Paul Cree, Conrad Murray and Lakeisha Lynch-Stevens - Inspired by JG Ballard’s novel
High Rise, this is the dystopian tale of a high rise tower block in London, interwoven with the performers’ personal autobiographical stories about the housing they have lived in. - Reflections (interviews with Beats & Elements) - Glossary
