Fresh off the award-winning stage show and BBC film, Frankenstein: How to Make a Monster, the BAC Beatbox Academy has returned to Battersea Arts Centre with the hip-hop musical, Pied Piper.
It’s the eve of the mayoral election and all is not well in the village of Hamelin.
The mayor of Hamelin has declared a music ban, and there’s a serious rat problem in town.
Rumours abound of a mysterious rat catcher in the village, however, and for the right price, he’ll use his magic to lure them away, though might he also help find the village find its voice?
Conceived, co-written and directed by BAC Beatbox Academy Director Conrad Murray, Pied Piper boldly and successfully reinvents the tale of the rat catcher of Hamelin into an exhilarating fable of what it means to find your voice and the music within you.
The play is primarily set in Hamelin, where the mayor’s ambitions to win the upcoming election and the ‘Pie Factory of the Year’ competition drive him to make the children work harder and to ban music.
Unhappy, a musical crew ingeniously titled The Rebel Clefs plot to rebel against the mayor, and rats soon emerge to infest Hamlin, until the titular rat catcher arrives in the village promising to remove the rats in exchange for money.
Much like the fable of old, the mayor refuses to pay, and the piper responds by leading the children out of Hamelin, though the Rebel Clefs eventually break the spell and return to the village for a mayoral election decided by a beatbox battle.
The play is mainly interested in the importance of having a voice and having the freedom to express this voice no matter what and the parallels between Pied Piper and BAC Beatbox Academy are hardly subtle.
Though the Piper can show the power of a voice, only the Rebel Clefs can locate and use their own unique voices, whether that be through beatbox or rap.
So too can only the audience, as Murray showed us how to mimic the sounds of a snare, kickdrum and high-hat in a fun and enticing call-and-response that interspersed the narrative beats.
Also present within the narrative is the formation of a friendship between Crotchet of the Rebel Clefs and the mayor’s daughter Robyn, and though this felt somewhat underdeveloped, the performances and music more than compensated.
The heart of Pied Piper is the Beatbox Academy, and each member provided a unique musical flavour as the play moved energetically through musical numbers infused with rap, hip-hop and beatboxing.
Kate Donnachie as Robyn is extraordinary while Lakeisha Lynch-Stevens threatens to steal every scene she’s in as Rebel Clef and wannabe-influencer Sally Snorkin.
Ultimately, Pied Piper is a musical and vocal triumph and a much needed reminder of the power of the human voice.
Pied Piper is running at the Battersea Arts Centre until tomorrow.
Tickets can be bought here.
Featured Image Credit: Ali Wright
