Beats and Elements: A Hip Hop Theatre Trilogy: No Milk for the Foxes; DenMarked; High Rise eState of Mind.
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.
Available in Waterstones here.
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Making Hip Hop Theatre is the essential, practical guide to making hip-hop theatre. It features detailed techniques and exercises that can guide creatives from workshops through to staging a performance. If you were inspired by Hamilton, Barber Shop Chronicles, Misty, Black Men Walking or Frankenstein: How to Make a Monster, this is the book for you.
From documentation of Conrad Murray’s major productions, to commentary from leading practitioners including Lakeisha Lynch-Stevens, David Jubb, Emma Rice, Tobi Kyeremateng and Paula Varjack, readers are treated to a detailed insight into the background of hip hop theatre.
Edited by scholar Katie Beswick and genre pioneer Conrad Murray, Making Hip Hop Theatre is a vital teaching tool and provides a much-needed account of a burgeoning aspect of contemporary theatre culture.
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