Paul T Davies reviews Frankenstein How To Make A Monster at the Traverse Theatre presented by the Battersea Arts Centre Beat Box Academy at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Glitch, Grove, Aminita, Native - The Cr8ive in Frankenstein How To Make A Monster. Photo: Lara Cappelli Frankenstein How To Make A Monster Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe 2019
8 August 2019
5 Stars
Welcome to the Battersea Arts Centre Beat Box Academy and a version of Frankenstein like you've never seen or HEARD before. This incredible ensemble take Mary Shelley's classic tale and create a thudding, thundering verbal and sound triumph of a production!
I had prejudices about hip hop and beat box but my mind was blown by this show. Every sound is created live, and each performer has a strong identity. Amnita Francis, Nadine Rose Johnson, Tyler Worthington, Nathaniel Forder Staple, ABH Beatbox and Beth Griffin are stars of their craft. And together they play exciting homage to the original text, never loosing the structure and updating it perfectly- the Monster we have created in social media is given vibrant life and the vocal work is strong, as is the selection of some music, Firestarter for example!
Aminita, Native The Cr8ive, Grove , ABH, Wiz-RD in Frankenstein How To Make A Monster. Photo: Lara Cappelli
Every performance is relaxed, the audience can film, dance, join in and the atmosphere is terrific. Stay for the beat box battles after the story ends. Conrad Murray and David Cumming have created a modern classic from a classic. That noise you hear is Mary Shelley shouting her approval that her creature still has vibrant life!
Highly recommended.
Paul is a playwright, director, actor, academic, (he has a PhD from the University of East Anglia), teacher and theatre reviewer! His plays include Living with Luke, (UK tour 2016), Play Something, (Edinburgh Festival Fringe/Drayton Arms Theatre, London 2018), , (2019), and now The Miner’s Crow, which won the inaugural Artist’s Pick of the Fringe Award at the first ever Colchester Fringe Festival 2021. In lockdown 2020 he created the audio series Isolation Alan, available on Youtube, and performed online in the Voice Box Festival. He is the founder member of Stage Write, a Colchester based theatre company, and his acting roles include Rupert in How We Love by Annette Brook, first performed at the Vaults Festival 2020 and revived at the Arcola and at Theatre Peckham in 2021. Follow: @stagewrite_
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