The Bite Magazine - Autumn/Winter 2023 - Issue 34

ox Academy bitetheatre With an end on audience staging, this intimate perfor- mance opened to a stage design of a steel and wooden platform with stairs on either side erected down the stage (at the back), with the underneath steel sup- porting the acting as various stage exits and makeshift rooms. Conrad Murray, who played the Pied Piper, introduced the main characters. Gambit Ace (David Bonnick Jr) is the Mayor of Hamelin, Robyn (Kate Donnachie) plays the Mayor’s daughter, Simon (Alex Hardy) is the Mayor’s deputy, Sally Snorekin (Lakeisha Lynch-Stevens) is a Hamelin news blogger and child pie factory worker. Crotchet (Aziza Brown) and Solo (Ananya Panwar) are Rebel Clef members and child pie factory workers. Each cast member was a musical theatre artist and astounding beatboxer. With audience engagement to liven up the crowd and get us in the mood (and perhaps show us how much skill it takes to beatbox), Conrad took us through some basic beatboxing of ‘Boom - Tee - Klah’ representing the drum, cymbal and snares, and divided us into sec- tions. He then directed each section to produce a sim- ple but brilliant tune of beats as an audience ensemble. Congratulating ourselves; it certainly got us pumped and ready for the show to begin! The performance, consisting entirely of rap songs to de- pict the story and dialogue, was accompanied by beat- boxing sounds from the ensemble, starting with ‘Rats Everywhere’ by Sally Snorekin, reporting the news of Hamelin's overrunning rodent problem. “Rats in the kitchen, rats in the sink, rats on the windows, rats in your drink. Even if you close your eyes and blink, you risk more rats moving in.” The Pied Piper entered with ‘Welcome to Hamelin’, introducing us to a nation that had once been great but had lost its glint due to an op- pressive ruling. “But the kids work every day for next to no pay. All sweat and no play! They work in a factory of pies. Some say a factory of lies.” The Mayor entered, claiming this life was the “best they've ever had”, immediately indicating how we should feel about him. Boo! However, it seemed the people had no choice but to take pride in their actions. The Pied Piper explained why there was a massive rat problem in the town. The kids at the pie factory were just kids, and now and then, they larked about sing- ing and dancing, as they'd formed a music group Rebel Clef on the side and sang whilst they worked. Their dire working conditions with the rats interrupt- ing their production saw them dedicatedly keep at it, though highly miserable, and used songs to lament their sentiments, much to the annoyance of the Mayor who owns the pie factory. “Only seven minutes to eat lunch? I’m sick of working here. I don’t get no chill. What a situation! No appreciation stuck in this loca- tion.” With the upcoming pie competition that the Mayor won in previous years, despite the kids doing the baking, Crotchet planned revenge for her mistreat- ment that year. They plot to stuff rats into the grand pie in his honour for the competition. “Rats in the pie! Rebel Clefs. You know what to do. Kids don’t get to be making pies.” Robyn, the Mayor's daughter who's lonely with the other children working, has hung around the pie facto- ry for a while and enjoyed their songs, but she cannot sing, and when she tries, the Rebel Clef members make fun of her. Crotchet noticed her misery and cautious- ly approached her to make friends. To Sally Snorekin, this was headline news, and she reported it on her blog. “I've got the facts. It's not an act nor a pact. But they seem to be friends. Solo don’t like it, but they seem to be friends. Now they are friends!” Back in his office, the Mayor, concerned about the overrunning rats in his town, discusses the problem with his deputy, Simon, with comical scenes of the rodents overrunning his office. “I’ve got a rat in my pants. A rat will eat anything!” On the day of the com- petition, the Rebel Clef baked the pie filled with rats right under the eyes of the factory manager and Robyn. They worked with glee, declaring it was time to get the Mayor back for these years of automatically claiming himself the winner but did not work or bake. The stage props for the rats were remote-controlled dirty-brown furry things with laser-red eyes that were not cute and not something I would have liked running around my home. Really clever prop design! Sally Snorekin reported on the live happening. “The Mayor wails as he sees a patty full of tails. The crowd boos as their king failed.” The Mayor asked his daugh- ter to reveal the traitor who deceitfully did this to him, promising to punish them. “Everything I have done! I should flambé them, everyone!” But to his surprise and disgust, Robyn didn't give them up, declaring if he had listened to the news, he would have realised Crotchet lived in the area with even more rats than where they