BEATBOXERS HAVE CREATED MONSTER HIT

“THE audiences are going crazy! Many people are saying it is the first time they have gone to the theatre!” declares Conrad Murray, artistic director of the London-based Battersea Arts Centre (BAC) Beatbox Academy and co-director of Frankenstein: How To Make A Monster – a radical retelling of Mary Shelley’s classic using beatboxing and music.

“The audiences rave, they get on their feet – we totally transform the theatre. Some audience members said they felt represented for the first time onstage, and older audiences are saying they had never had a chance to feel part of modern culture in such a way. We are bringing people together.”

Published in 1818, Shelley’s gothic novel, Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus, explores themes of life, death, science and persecution, and has been adapted and retold countless times – many versions of which the beatboxers absorbed before working up their own version.

“Mary Shelley was a teenager when she wrote it so it really resonated with the cast,” says touring company manager (and cast member) Kate Donnachie. “We created all the music ourselves, together. We do this through a process of improvising and jamming called ‘circle jams’. We listen to each other, experiment with looping and solos and all these techniques, create a soundtrack and then write lyrics to bring it all together. It’s a really collaborative, ensemble process.”

Says Conrad: “This show is nothing like what you expect from the theatre. You can dance, take photos, breathe! It’s a very modern feel, deliberately created so that everyone feels included and able to have a good time. We are trying to show the rest of theatre how it can be done! And so far it is working.”

Frankenstein: How To Make A Monster visits Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, from May 25-27. Details: warwickartscentre.co.uk