The Contact Theatre is a great establishment back home in Manchester that focuses on producing short-run performances that don't necessarily conform to the rules and constraints of traditional plays. These range from performance art pieces that take over the entire building to reinterpretations of existing works, such as a production of Of Mice And Men cast entirely with actors with developmental disabilities. One of these reinterpretations was performed in May of 2011 - a hip hop version of Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors, performed by the Contact Young Actors Company.
As you can see from this trailer, it's a really fun adaptation of the classic play. Even though my friend Roxanne was a member of the cast, I unfortunately wasn't able to see any of the performances due to undergoing a shoulder operation at the time - but from the trailer alone, it's clear that the creators of the show found a great way to translate the poetic quality of Shakespeare's writing into the extremely modern form of poetry that is rap and hip hop.
