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Review: Jonzi D’s Hip Hop Surgery (March 2009)

Theatre is dissected with pioneering

audience workshops, but rely on

fans to keep the projects going.

Section: Hip Hop Theatre

Words: David Barros

I came out of the theatre with emcees, dancers and actors after surgery in Soho last Sunday.

Although it sounds like something that involved heavy drinking and painkillers on Monday morning, everyone came out unscathed.

“The Surgery” is in fact a Jonzi D Production showcasing works from his Hip Hop Theatre Lab to an intimate audience, then discussing it with viewers after.

The idea is to explore the direction of hip hop theatre by allowing the audience to participate in the direction by offering their thoughts on works in progress, like splicing the DNA of “X-Factor” with “The Jeremy Kyle Show,” minus the TV cameras.

The night began with Jonzi D opening to a trademark freestyle to hype up the audience, explaining the show concept through rhyme form, then called up the cast to do the same. Although some of them weren’t emcees they gave it their best shot!

Jonzi D at the Hip Hop Surgery

Above: Jonzi points out his weapon of choice

As some of the pieces were “work in progress,” only extracts were shown, although this was enough to arouse inquisitive questions from the audience. In fact, some pieces were so fresh they had only been completed a recently as a week ago!

What was most interesting was the artists had a go at performing what wasn’t their first talent - emcees acted and actors emceed. Unless they were selling their CD or promoting their events during the interval, it was difficult knowing who did what! Most commendable for me was B-Boy Unique who didn’t dance in his performance, throwing the audience off completely from what they expected!

The running order for the night leant towards hip hop poetry. Not to be confused with rapping, “hip hop poetry” took lyrical influence from hip hop put into a poetic style: a dancer being observed in poetic prose in “Wonderment,” Saul Williams lyrics spoken like a monologue in “That B-Boom Boom” and a deep, provoking poem about racial identity in “Baby.”

Guest DJ Psykhomantus wasn’t just on stand by for his tribute set to Jam Master Jay, but also worked the sound for the acting, giving an authentic, live feel to the pieces. Dancers utilised this, with contemporary artist Helen Pokrovskaia dancing on vinyl scratches and XYM and Archa collaborating for a duet reminiscing things from “back in the day” over a breakbeat (XYM’s piece was just over a week old - although you wouldn’t have noticed!).

The final performance, “The White Hip Hop Fan’s Dilemma” created the deepest debate after with a stereotypical (although arguably true) look at the differences between of how white and black individuals have embraced hip hop music in different ways - by putting the different characters in the same scene. The result was humorous piece fuelling the debate on

A White Hip Hop Fan's Dilemma at Jonzi D's Hip Hop Surgery

Above: A White Hip Hop Fan’s Dilemma

The artists: Archa; B-boy Unique; DJ; Helen Pokrovskaia; Joey Gamper; Jonzi D; Maxwell Golden; Mole; Patrick Turner; DJ Psykhomantus; Stephen Macaulay; SureShot; XYM

Seeing the Surgery gave me a glimpse into the creation to new hip hop theatre before a general audience, although unlike other specialist events “The Surgery” is open to anyone who follows hip hop theatre that wants their opinions heard by the artists.

“The Surgery” relies on fans to keep it going, so make sure to sign up below.

Keep the hip hop surgeries going, click here to sign up to the Jonzi D mailing list.

Image: Sowfside