Blog on groupthing
Theatre review: The Red Helicopter
Posted by groupthing on 10 Aug 2010
Theatre
review: The Red Helicopter
at The
Almeida,
6th
– 7th August 2010
It’s 2072.
By Beth Oppenheim
Post-Apocalyptic drama, The Red Helicopter, tells the story of
twenty such outcasts. A group of teenagers who had been in care before the
Exodus face dangerous conditions as they inhabit an abandoned office in
Playwright Robin French meditates
sensitively upon the breakdown of society, avoiding the temptation of slipping
into a mess of sci-fi warfare, thus allowing the audience to make real
emotional connections with the actors. The cast, aged between 15 and 22, were
consistently enthusiastic and intriguing to watch as they provided relentless
entertainment for the audience.
An eclectic mix of song, dance and
dialogue came together to create something truly distinctive. Break-dancing,
snatches of opera, heavy bass guitar and drums all sit oddly, yet comfortably
together as each actor clearly plays to their strengths. Perhaps the most
memorable moment is when a powerful stage-fight takes place, resulting in Daddy
lying wounded and bleeding at the front of the stage. There is something
tactile about this moment, as the audience are perversely manipulated into
feeling a strong sense of pathos for a destructive and manipulative dictator.
The production was innovative,
dynamic and intelligent from beginning to end. Highly recommended.
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Being Ndubz…
Posted by groupthing on 06 Aug 2010
By Shatoya Rose
The band’s three
members, Dappy, Tulisa and Fazer, have truly had the rags to riches experience.
Born and bred in the urban area North West London with nothing, they now find
themselves with eight hit singles. They have proven to every young child or
teenager that if you work hard, you can fulfil your dreams and live in true
glitz and glamour! They first made a name for themselves with their hit single:
‘Better Not Waste My Time’, followed by a hood video to their single ‘Na Na
Remix Ft Skepta’.
This phenomenal
group have proved that discouraging comments and ‘hating’ has only made them
more determined to succeed, resulting in signing a deal with massive record
label ‘Def Jam’, who have a massive range of talents including Jennifer Lopez,
Kanye West, Lady Gaga, Rihanna and many more…
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Henrietta Branford Award Winner
Posted by groupthing on 29 Jul 2010
Hannah Rodger, shares her experience of winning a Henrietta Branford Award.
The Henrietta Branford Writing Competition is an annual competition
for young people under the age of 19 and was set up in memory of
the Indian- born fiction writer, Henrietta Branford. My entry was called the
‘Children of Neptune’ and is about two girls who sneak away from their parents
to go to a beach party. My heroine meets a handsome boy who is not all that he
seems as she soon discovers when he starts to take her out a little too far to
sea. I was inspired to write it by a German song called ‘De Wasserman’ that I
sing with the Cantamus Girls’ choir.
I had received a phone call to let me know that my story had reached
the final stages of judging, but it was only when checking my emails that I discovered
I had won! On first glance, I had thought it was just another of those junk
emails that we get so many of! I can’t begin to say how excited I was. I had
entered the competition before and knew what a major award it was – I felt hugely
honoured to have won.
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Exclusive Interview with Akala
Posted by groupthing on 23 Jul 2010
Groupthing caught up with award-winning hip-hop star Akala,
just before he played at the first of his special, invitation-only gig
for young people at Toxteth Library.The tour is in partnership
with the national charity, The Reading Agency, and Akala's Hip-hop Shakespeare
Company: it is part of a major drive to fire up young people about reading and
transform the way we think about libraries.
Interview by Lara Akinnawo
You’ve said in an
interview that you refuse to be put in a box, so how would you describe your
music?
I would describe it as hip hop. To me hip hop is all about chopping up, looping, reinterpreting, and taking ownership of any type of music that you want and putting it into a reflection of your consciousness. To me hip hop is about not having boundaries, hip hop is revolutionary music, that knows no boundaries, that refuses to be told what to do, and to me hip hop is also a tool for education and uplifting people.
What would you say to
people who say that hip hop is not real music?
Tell me what real music is? I think there is a certain snobbery that comes from a lack of understanding of how hip hop culture came to exist. But when you begin to understand, you understand that it is an offshoot of a long standing African oral tradition that has existed for hundreds - if not thousands of years.
You clearly have a
love of literature, how relevant do think that reading is today?
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Olufemi Terry wins Caine Prize
Posted by groupthing on 16 Jul 2010
It was an absolute pleasure to attend The Caine Prize for
African Writing readings, an interesting event where the shortlisted writers
read from and discussed their work in the Southbank Centre. Writers spoke on issues such as how difficult
it is to break out on an international scale as an African writer, and whether
African writing should indeed be kept in a box marked ‘
Olufemi Terry, was pronounced to have won the award the day
after the readings. His work Stick Fighting Days, was voted for by
all the judges on the panel. When asked what he thought it meant to be an
African writer, Olufemi, who has lived in various different parts of the globe including
America, London, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, remarked: ‘I have no idea what it
means’.
The shortlist comprised of Ken Barris and Alex Smith from
You can read Stick Fighting days by clicking here.
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MOBO winner, Akala wows young people at local library
Posted by groupthing on 14 Jul 2010
Award-winning hip-hop star Akala played a special, invitation-only evening gig for young people at Toxteth Library on 13 July 2010.
More than 120 young people from Toxteth-based music and writing groups were
invited to attend the gig. His performance was part of a tour of libraries
across the country this summer. The tour is in partnership with The Reading Agency and Akala's Hip-hop Shakespeare Company: it
is part of a major drive to fire us up about reading and transform
the way we think about libraries. Events will take place in libraries
across the
The free evening shows consist of a half-hour performance by Akala, accompanied
by the renowned drummer Cassell 'The Beatmaker.' These are followed by a
Q&A session with Akala about how his love for reading has influenced
his new album DoubleThink - inspired by three works of dystopian
fiction: George Orwell's 1984, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World
and Yevgeny Zamyatin's We.
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Summer Festival Guide: Secret Garden Party
Posted by groupthing on 13 Jul 2010
Secret Garden Party
Cambridgeshire
22 July – 25 July 2010
Cost: £53+
The only festival that
manages to fuse good
music with gardening! Headline acts include Gorillaz sound system and
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