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The Rap Canterbury Tales
Verdict: Lit-Hop Pardoner's Tale
London - The Camden Head, Camden Passage, Islington N1 - 18 May 06 - 21:00
The Rap Canterbury Tales are a series of stand-up performance poetry pieces written and performed by Canadian Lit-Hop artist Baba Brinkman, inspired by Geoffrey Chaucer.
Tonight he does a 10-minute version of The Pardoner's Tale, with a quick summary of the original story at the start. Three young drinking buddies become acquainted with Death's killings. In their attempt to find and prevent Death from taking more lives, they become consumed by greed and selfishness - which eventually forces them to turn on one another. The narrative soon slips by the wayside as fascination develops for the language used to describe the events.
Baba Brinkman brings this 14th Century story up to date by substituting some of the old English with more recognisable vocabulary, presented in rap - which suits it. He acknowledges early influence by hip hop artists such as Dr Dre, and his dream to become a 'bad-ass rap gangster' like those he heard on the radio. But during his time at university, he became hooked on Chaucer. His creation of Lit Hop is similar to most already existing forms of performance poetry. And he agrees, saying tonight that rap is just another version of performance poetry.
He experiments in the use of particular phonemes; his very funny Vowel Movements cover the use of vowels A, E, O. In this three-part piece - one for each vowel - he describes his ambitions, using only words which resonate with the particular vowel.
As well as being stylistically impressive, his work is thematically controversial. The pieces carry personal or political statements. They break genre boundaries but also tackle dangerous subject matter.
A genius with an astounding command of the English language, Baba Brinkman bamboozles with arcane words and startling alliteration. But he leaves no-one behind: there's an indelible physically-descriptive performance with his delivery. Crisp diction and originality in creative expression are at the foundation of his performance. Surprises occur regularly, with changes in tone, acceleration in speed and variance in volume; even the pauses intrigue.
Credits: Performer - Baba Brinkman. Host - Nathan Penlington. DJ - David Bush. Notes: Baba Brinkman performs tonight as part of the Shortfuse Festival, which takes place on Thursday nights at 9pm until 1 June 06 at The Camden Head. Tonight there is also performance poetry from Paul Marshall, and stand-up comedy by Kate Smurtwhaite. Baba Brinkman played Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2005, and has since toured the UK, taking The Rap Canterbury Tales to poetry festivals and schools. He performs in Word4Word at The Theatre Royal Stratford East Bar, Sunday 4 June 06 from 7pm, details at www.stratfordeast.com.
END
(c) Lydia Fraser-Ward 2006
reviewed Thursday 18 May 06 / The Camden Head
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2009
