Canterbury Rap

This fringe fun is a one-man show, a translation into Hip-Hop which re-creates the experience/context of the original Canterbury Tales. Check out the play times here. I did a quickie interview with Baba, the shows creator. Here’s what the man had to say:

I play Chaucer, telling the story of a pilgrimage equivalent to the 14th century one, only in a modern context with rappers. Every character in the original book is Chaucer adopting a persona, so that’s what I do in the show. I’ve updated the language completely, but kept the spirit and content of the tales as close as possible to the original.

aside from critics, have you had any great personal responses to the play?

For personal responses beyond the critics, go check out the comments left by audience members on my myspace page:

http ://www.myspace.com/bababrinkman

How edgy, progressive, political, bawdy can Chaucer really be?

Chaucer pushed the envelope in every way, politically, sexually, socially, etc. I have tried to retain this in the show, but also keep the irony and subtlety that made Chaucer so effective. It’s not about straight shock value, it’s about being subversive in a context that seems at first to be quite safe, so the edginess has to be teased out.

You’re a medeival lit scholar- can you give us a feel for the original context of the Chaucer? Were the Canterbury tales performed and if so, what were the shows like do you think?

We don’t know what an original recitation of the Canterbury Tales was like, but there are portraits from Chaucer’s time of him reading his tales to the court. It was probably quite expressive, with Chaucer doing different voices to represent the different characters (you can tell this by the different vocabulary and cadence he gives the various pilgrims). I am trying to return the Tales to this original context of lyrical entertainment with oral performance poetry. My show is also very physical, however, with me fully acting out all of the scenes. Somehow I don’t think Chaucer took it this far, but he was middle-aged to elderly when he wrote the tales.

How much did you need to adapt the text? Why Chaucer rather then …. Beowulf or Shakespeare or Milton or I dunno?

To see what I did to the original text and how much I had to adapt it, check out this link. Why Chaucer? It’s complicated, but I’ve already explained fairly thoroughly in the introduction to my book (published by Talon Books last year)!

(He actually attached a chunk of it for me to look at! I’m gonna give a read and see the show and let you know.. =) Meanwhile.. on with the interview!

Are there other texts you’re interested in rapping?

I’m interested in many other texts, but I’m not working on any other translations at the moment, just writing lots of original rap songs.

how are your book and play different?

The play puts the Tales in a fictional contemporary context on a tour bus full of rappers, which parallels the original pilgrimage that Chaucer used as a framing device. The book presents the tales in more of a scholarly context, with facing pages showing the original Middle English and the adaptation, with illustrations, an original glossary written by me to explain the text, and introductions explaining my take on each tale and the project as a whole.

Is there something political about colonizing an old English text with Hip-Hop?

Yes, I do think there is something political about this, but I’m trying to be political in the same way that Chaucer was, with subtlety and irony rather than straight rebellion.

Will people be more inclined to dance or ponder at your shows?

It’s a seated show so people will not be dancing, although I hope there will be lots of tapping of feet and nodding of heads. But mostly what people do at my show is laugh, and then ponder why they laughed, and then laugh again. It’s a pretty intellectual show with lots of jokes as well.

what would you perform at hiphop karaoke?

Hip-hop karaoke? Haven’t tried it but I would be up for Slick Rick “Children’s Story” or Method Man “Release Yo Delf” some old school gems.

Hmm, excellent ..

what would you perform at Hip-Hop Karaoke..?

If you’re in town, come out and show us! June 13 at Fringe Club North indyish presents Hip-Hop Karaoke with More or Les. Thanks to Baba for the interview!

Check out an audio snipit of the Rap Canterbury Tales over on the Indyish Pre-Fringe Radio Play series, just one of much fun brewing at Indyish.com/podcast.