"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. Covering vocal technique, use of equipment, mixing, looping, sampling, working with venues and dealing with creative challenges, this book is a bible for both new and experienced artists alike. Additionally, with links to online video material demonstrating and elaborating on the exercises included, it offers countless useful tools for teachers and facilitators of drama, music and other creative arts. Alongside this practical guidance is an overview of hip hop history, giving theoretical and historical context for the practice. 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."--

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. Covering vocal technique, use of equipment, mixing, looping, sampling, working with venues and dealing with creative challenges, this book is a bible for both new and experienced artists alike. Additionally, with links to online video material demonstrating and elaborating on the exercises included, it offers countless useful tools for teachers and facilitators of drama, music and other creative arts. Alongside this practical guidance is an overview of hip hop history, giving theoretical and historical context for the practice. 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.

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.

Two Postcodes, two streets apart In dear Merton where our story starts. Beef from the past creates new tension. Innocent blood spilled they need an intervention. A boy and a girl, supposed to be ops; They chat, hold hands, secret meetings by the shops. A remixed tale of star-crossed lovers. How much would you risk for the person you love? Forced apart by generations of hatred, young eyes meet across a South London dancefloor on a fateful night that will change their lives forever. Shakespeare's most famous story is re-told through rap, rhythms, and beautiful harmonies. It's Romeo and Juliet, but as you've never heard it before. Put down your swords and pick up your mics, after all, the course of true love never did run smooth. From Conrad Murray, the creator behind the 2023 Offie award-winning Pied Piper: The Hip Hop Family Musical, with contributions from Lakeisha Lynch-Stevens, Khai Shaw, and Kate Donnachie. This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere at London's Polka Theatre in March 2024.

Sometimes they eat cheese Sometimes they eat bread They even eat the tiny crumbs that fall under the bed They eat jelly They eat egg! They eat peas And stinky old brie.... A rat will eat anything... anything... anything. It's the eve of the mayoral election, and the kids of Hamelin aren't happy. The mayor and owner of the local pie factory has imposed a music ban, and to make matters worse, there's a serious rat problem. But, there have been whispers of a mysterious rat catcher in town... people listen to the powerful message created by his singing... his pipes... Can this curious stranger help Hamelin to find its voice once more? Conrad Murray's Pied Piper is a raucous musical re-imagining of a medieval fairy-tale. The original production featured a hugely talented cast of beatboxers, musicians and special guest performances from the local community. A Battersea Arts Centre, Beatbox Academy & rODIUM co-production conceived, written and co-directed by Conrad Murray. This edition was published to coincide with the start of the UK tour at Battersea Arts Centre, London, in October 2023.

No matter how hard we try, we just can't get out. It's like we are not allowed to. Some give up and say, “alright then, if you won't give, I will bloody well take.” And you know what Shona, I don't blame them. Shona and her class are studying the Charles Dickens classic, Oliver Twist. She's the new girl in school and is finding it hard to stay out of trouble – much like Oliver himself! When she's given a new phone by a stranger, she begins to suspect there's something unusual about the new boys she's met. Unexpected Twist is a re-telling of Oliver Twist by one of the best-loved figures in the children's book world, Michael Rosen. This thrilling story was brought to vivid life by The Children's Theatre Partnership, and Royal & Derngate, Northampton, whose co-productions have included Holes and The Jungle Book. Directed by James Dacre (2020 Olivier Award nominated Our Lady of Kibeho), Rosen's novel was adapted for the stage by BAFTA award-winning playwright Roy Williams (Death of England, Sucker Punch) with original music by rising R&B star Yaya Bey and BAC Beatbox Academy's Conrad Murray. This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere and UK tour, in April 2023.

Aural/Oral Dramaturgies: Theatre in the Digital Age focuses on the ‘aural turn’ in contemporary theatre-making, examining a number of seemingly disparate trends that foreground speech and sound -- ‘post-verbatim’ theatre, 'amplified storytelling' (works using microphones and headphones), and ‘gig theatre’ that incorporates live music performance. Its main argument is that the dramaturgical underpinnings of these works contribute to an understanding of theatre as an extra-literary activity, greater than the centrality of the script that traditionally dominated many historical discussions. This quality is usually expressed in terms of the corporeality in dance and physical theatre, but the aural/oral turn gives an alternative viewpoint on the interplay between text and performance. The book's case studies draw on the ways in which a range of theatre companies engage with the dramaturgy of speech and sound in their work. It is further accompanied by a specially curated collection of digital resources, including interviews, conversations, and presentations from artists and academics. This is a key text for scholars, students, and practitioners of contemporary performance, and anyone working with dramaturgies of orality and aurality in today’s performance environment.