Across the Pond, Hip Hop is Thriving
Last week’s blog was about one of the current trends that will cement hip hop as the dominant force of the theater of the future – how universities are starting to incorporate hip hop into the curricula of theater departments.
This week’s trend is what is happening in Europe.
Musical Theater is an American creation, but has spread around the world. Hip hop theater is the same – a modern American export.
Some examples are:
- In England the Hip-hop Shakespeare Company was founded in 2009. Its mission is to look at the similarities between what Shakespeare was doing and what modern hip hop artists are doing.
- In Liverpool, 20 Stories High is committed to making theater that is socially accessible and inclusive using the hip hop aesthetic.
- In Ireland in 2014 in Limerick, the Limerick City of Culture funded a production of a retelling of Irish legends of pre-Christian Ireland in hip hop.
- And in Paris , Theatre le 13eme Art, this year has a hip hop production Folia.
These productions are, I believe, just the beginning. As more and more theater artists are raised on hip hop as their primary mode of musical expression, more new work will be created using this aesthetic. Just watch and see all of the hip hop musicals that will come out of this decade.
Just as in the 1920’s when Showboat premiered, we are at the start of another revolution in theater.
At Rhymes Over Beats we are proud to do our small part to bring it about.