Poet in da Corner - Royal Court

I thought this was excellent. Debris Stephenson really puts herself though it all on stage and is a polished performer and writer.

There are many moments which reminded me of Hamilton (in a good way) and I was glad to see the Royal Court really put every effort into set and lighting - I expected it the be very minimal.

I feel the piece is still finding its feet in places but it's a fresh concept and holds the audience in it's palm for the 75 minute running time.

On a side note, this was my first time sitting in the stalls at the RC and from row H (near the back) the theatre feels incredibly intimate in the very best way. I can imagine how wonderful plays like The Ferryman and Hangmen felt sitting there!

I'd highly recommend Poet in da Corner.

The spoken word (? )* elements are excellent and the young audience really loved it. There is a narrative but the lack of dramaturgical rigour makes it dramatically trite and a bit self indulgent when it probably needs to be fizzing with anger with a sense that redemption is possible through poetry. One thing they didn’t explore was how Debris, raised with religious fundamentalist parents, became a fanatic of sorts herself with grime music as her new religion. That said, the poetry is absolutely breathtaking. These youngsters are geniuses.

*forgive me if I use the wrong terminology...I am relatively old.

Likelihood of this lasting longer than the 6th?

I had no interest in this whatsoever but the notices were enthusiastic enough to make me think I should check it out. I'm glad I did. Parts of it were energetic and compelling, other parts were ( dramaturgically at least) amateurish. However, I'm not the target audience for this - I only vaguely knew what Grime was/is - so don't go by what I have to say.