Overview
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.
Full Product Details
Author: Conrad Murray (Freelance Practitioner, UK) ,
Dr Katie Beswick (University of the Arts London, UK) ,
David Bonnick Jr ,
Paul Cree
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint: Methuen Drama
ISBN: 9781350270602
ISBN 10: 1350270601
Pages: 160
Publication Date: 10 March 2022
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Manufactured on demand
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
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 * It's dramatic authenticity is pitch perfect. * Exeunt *
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 *
Author Information
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.
