Frankenstein: How To Make A Monster
Battersea Arts Centre
Reviewed – 14th March 2019
★★★★★
“it’s the complex musical arrangements, inventive lyrics, slick choreography and brilliant vocals which inspire and lift ‘Frankenstein’ beyond its genre”
The expectation of a beatbox show is a great evening of infectious rhythm, but walking into Battersea Arts Centre’s suitably gothic Grand Hall, filled with an audience buzzing with intoxicating anticipation and the scene set with bare, hanging bulbs and smoky lighting, is a suggestion that it is more than just that. Beatbox Academy’s ‘Frankenstein’, fuses singing, rapping and movement with the group’s rhythmic skills in a production worthy of its standing ovation. Entertaining with energy and humour and mesmerising with seemingly limitless voices, Aminita Francis, Nadine Rose Johnson, Tyler Worthington, Nathaniel Forder-Staple, Alex Hackett and Beth Griffin (alias Aminita, Glitch, Wiz-rd, Native, ABH and Grove) move through every vocal possibility imaginable from industrial soundscape to Baroque cover version, each bringing a strong, contrasting personal slant but working in complete harmony.
After two industrious years of teamwork between devoted and enlightening directors, Conrad Murray and David Cumming, and the cast, the reconstruction of Frankenstein’s monster unfolds as a story reflecting on themes in Mary Shelley’s well-worn tale. She warns of the advance of technology and society’s condemnation of physical imperfection; here we are warned of the addiction of social media, smart phones, selfies and the loneliness they bring. Chapter one leads us from peaceful, forest birdsong to the noise of the city and breaks into the first number, introducing us to the ‘Genius’. In the second chapter the monster is compiled of body parts in the form of musical fragments – James Brown, The Prodigy and Pachelbel, to spoil as little as possible. It is followed by ‘growing pains’ and continues to develop its messages in varied numbers and breath-taking changes of mood. The sound (Marcello Coppola) is immaculate and perfectly balanced and Sherry Coenen’s lighting heightens the atmosphere at every turn.
Beatbox Academy is celebrating ten years of teaching, learning and personal development mixed with enjoyment. Enveloping inspiration, creativity and dedication with a powerful community spirit enables young people to discover and express themselves. The brief appearance of the younger members at the beginning and end of the show put into perspective the exciting journey these children are on and how much they can achieve. But it’s the complex musical arrangements, inventive lyrics, slick choreography and brilliant vocals which inspire and lift ‘Frankenstein’ beyond its genre. To those already familiar with the group, it is an hour of excitement and exuberance; to those who aren’t, it is a thrilling and heart-filled revelation.
Reviewed by Joanna Hetherington
Photography by Joyce Nicholls
Frankenstein: How To Make A Monster
Battersea Arts Centre until 29th March
Previously reviewed at this venue:
How to Survive a Post-Truth Apocalypse | ★★★ | May 2018
Rendezvous in Bratislava | ★★★★★ | November 2018
Dressed | ★★★★★ | February 2019
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