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| 27/28 May 2007 |
2007 has been funded by:
2007 has been funded by:
"Ready to kill with
their jagged-edged
daggers drawn;
The three aggravated
braggarts staggered
up the lawn;
And without dragging
on while the story is told;
Beneath the tree they found a bag filled with glorious gold."
Canadian rap artist Baba Brinkman updates 14th century Chaucer with his 'Lit-Hop' presentation - The Rap Canterbury Tales. A full 60 minutes of the pilgrim's stories told as never before, in hip-hop rappin' style at Newbury Central Library this coming Sunday 27th May, as part of the Newbury Fringe Festival's programme of Drama at The Library.
College students have clapped and laughed as they have seen the stories, most have only read, come to life on stage in clear modern language.
Baba Brinkman, a young literary scholar who studied Chaucer for his master's degree in the late 90's, translated the tales to make them more accessible. He feels that "all the themes of rap music are there in the tales; jealousy, anger, greed, lust."
A surprise hit at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with The Rap Canterbury Tales, Baba was invited to take part in a Cambridge University project to encourage school children to love literature. As a result he has toured schools presenting classes of 15 and 16 year olds with his 'Tales' having toned down some of the bawdier language and sexual connotations of the originals to make it more suitable to his audience.
Every element of the plot closely follows Chaucer's original text, but in this contemporary setting. Brinkman plays Chaucer as narrator and participant - a hip-hop fan who stows away on a tour bus and witnesses a rap storytelling battle. Each rap being an exact retelling of one of the pilgrim's stories.
"Baba is fantastic at conveying the sense of poetry and storytelling."BBC News
"It was so funny it made me cry and made my stomach muscles ache from continuous giggling!" BBC West Yorkshire
Newbury Dramatics Society will start the day of Drama at the Library by performing their one act comedy A Fishy Business by Margaret Wood. Interakt Theatre Community Group - Morpheus Theatre will introduce a world of character, accompanied by live music. Newbury YoungStars Theatre Company perform favourite moments from modern musicals, and Trinity School will present Memories a piece of Installation Theatre.
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Download Images for Editors:
Baba Brinkman (1.2MB)
Chaucer (1.3MB)
Rap Canterbury Tales title (417KB)
The Rap Canterbury Tales book cover (396KB)
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For further details on the Newbury Fringe Festival visit www.newburyfringefestival.org, email using this form, or call 07798 845625 or 07774 291892 with all press enquiries.
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Newbury Fringe Festival: New Greenham Park, Newbury, Berkshire, RG19 6HN
