Beats and Elements: A Hip Hop Theatre Trilogy: No Milk for the Foxes; DenMarked; High Rise eState of Mind

Hardback

Main Details

Title Beats and Elements: A Hip Hop Theatre Trilogy: No Milk for the Foxes; DenMarked; High Rise eState of Mind
Authors and Contributors      By (author) Conrad Murray
Edited by Dr Katie Beswick
Physical Properties
Format:Hardback
Pages:160
Dimensions(mm): Height 216,Width 138
Category/GenreRap and Hip-Hop
Plays, playscripts
ISBN/Barcode 9781350270602
ClassificationsDewey:822.92
Audience
Professional & Vocational

Publishing Details

Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint Methuen Drama
Publication Date 10 March 2022
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

This 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.

Author Biography

Conrad Murray is an artist, performer, beatboxer and rapper from Mitcham, South West London. He is a qualified and experienced secondary school teacher, the artistic director of the Battersea Arts Centre's Beatbox Academy, co-artistic director of the hip hop theatre company Beats and Elements and associate artist at BAC. His shows include No Milk for the Foxes (Camden People's Theatre 2015); DenMarked (BAC 2016); Frankenstein (BAC 2018); High Rise eState of Mind (BAC/CPT 2019). He is currently musical director and composer on Crongton Knights (Pilot Theatre), director on Pied Piper: Silent City (BAC), and composer and musical director for Mrs Noah (Headlong); he is also working with the BBC on a screen adaptation of Frankenstein to be screened on BBC4 in March 2020. He was awarded the Off West End and Total Theatre Awards for Frankenstein.

Reviews

A 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 *