Theatre review: The Red Helicopter

at The Almeida, London

6^th – 7^th August 2010

It’s 2072. Britain finds itself abandoned. The remaining population are society’s outcasts, deserted by their government.

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 Central London. But they are ruled over by a corrupt tyrant, a sixteen year old boy who calls himself “Daddy”, played convincingly by Misha Patel.

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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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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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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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?

Reading is everything. There’s the cliché that says that leaders are always readers, but it’s very true and I think that anyone who is trying to feed young people the idea that somehow reading is not cool, is trying to keep young people from realising their potential. Reading is an absolute necessity, after breathing, eating, and tied with music, reading is right up there.

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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 ‘Africa’. 

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 South Africa, Lily Mabura from Kenya, Zambia’s first shortlisted author Namwali Serpell, and Olufemi Terry from South Africa. The collection ‘A life in Full and Other Stories’  contains writing by each of the shortlisted authors, as well as stories written at the Caine Prize Writers’ Workshop and is available now.

You can read Stick Fighting days by clicking here.

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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 UK, with the final show taking place at the British Library in London in November.

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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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 Marina and the Diamonds. This festival is dedicated to the weird and wonderful of the modern age, turning obscure fantasies from books and illustrations into reality. Those who attend are in for a treat.

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