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Soweto Kinch with Ricardo Da Silva
and Tyrone Isaac-Stuart Picture: Graeme Braidwood The Legend of Mike Smith Birmingham REP ****
Birmingham-based musician Soweto Kinch’s frenetic staged performance of
his double album is an inspired pick to launch the new Studio space
shared by Birmingham Rep and Birmingham Library. Kinch is high profile on the Birmingham arts
scene while remaining edgy as a performer so is capable of appealing to
a wide range of audiences. And that mix of people is the perfect blend for
this all-encompassing work inspired by the Seven Deadly Sins and Dante’s
terrifying Inferno. Choreographed by Jonzi D and mixing
narrative, dance, rap, comedy, music and projection, The Legend of Mike
Smith is also packed full of social and political comment as well as
being a meditation on human nature. It centres around budding MC Mike Smith who is
offered temptation in the shape of a recording deal which could bring
him fame and riches – but at a price to his soul. In one wild day, Mike experiences all of the
Seven Deadly Sins, entering both his own Heaven and his own Hell, before
he realises where true freedom lies. It is a whirlwind of musical and theatrical
experience as images collide, ideas pop and fizz and the audience is
bombarded with sound, image and movement. And in places it makes for uncomfortable viewing
– not least when performers Ricardo da Silva, Tyrone Isaac-Stuart and
Soweto take the audience on, goading us to think again about our own
preconceptions and diving in to turn the spotlight on us. There is so much going on in this 100-minute
performance that I am sure I could watch it all again and come away with
quite a different theatrical experience the second time around. Kinch’s lyrics are spot on with bang-up-to-date
references to just about everything under the sun from media moguls to
subprime mortgages and twitter to trainers. But there were times when
they were too fast for me to catch, leaving me feeling I need to read a
lyric sheet to fully grasp the nettle. There is little doubt of Soweto’s talent as a
musician on saxophone and as a lyricist and rapper and this new
performance of his music shows how much more can be done with an album
when you add in staging and a lot of imagination. To 28-09-13. Diane Parkes
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