Open Art Surgery - The Series
Open Art Surgery is hip hop theatre dissected, examined, and put under the microscope - and for the first time, captured for the big screen!
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Open Art Surgery is about breaking down the fourth wall and showcasing raw talent and new work.
It offers hip hop theatre companies and performers, from dancers and musicians to emcees and visual artists, the opportunity to develop and experiment with new ideas, share new work publicly and receive mentorship from experienced hip hop theatre creators like Jonzi D.
Participants spend one week workshopping and devising with mentors on hand to inspire, advise and offer support. With no pressure on an end product, Open Art Surgery allows artists to take creative risks, try something different or to test ideas.
At the end of the week, participants share and discuss their work with a live performance hosted by Jonzi D. Taking place in an intimate theatre space, Jonzi invites the audience to question and critique the brand new work shown, giving audience members the opportunity to get inside the minds of the artists, and giving artists themselves the unique opportunity to question their audience.
Work that has appeared at Open Art Surgery has gone on to be performed at The Place, Just Jam, Edinburgh Fringe and Breakin' Convention's international touring.
EPISODE GUIDE
EPISODE 1 - Premieres 7pm GMT, Sun 10 Sept
It’s the first day of Open Art Surgery, Breakin’ Convention’s week-long intensive hip hop theatre project. In the opening episode, we’re introduced to the cast of five performers and their many dancers as they delve into deconstructing hip hop theatre performance with mentors Jonzi D, Anthony Ekundayo Lennon and Jane Sekonya.
EPISODE 2 - Premieres 7pm GMT, Tue 12 Sept
Day 2 of Open Art Surgery: Everyone’s warmed up and knows what’s ahead of the for the week, now it’s time to start making work! Follow them, including dancer Paul Corben’s personal story stepping into trying theatre for the first time; popper Matthew Eudu’s juxtaposition of being an introvert, yet a performer; and breaker Lerato Sekonya stepping into Jonzi D’s shoes, reprising a vintage performance with a twist.
EPISODE 3 - Premieres 7pm GMT, Thu 14 Sept
Breaker and bō staff technician Kofi Mingo looks for an understanding of what a literary understanding by reading to explore he can bring to his performance, and we’re introduced to Dan-I Harris Walters, someone who was straight into creating work, but revealing the progress of his work also involved taking breaks.
EPISODE 4 - Premieres 7pm GMT, Sun 17 Sept
Crunch time – as the weekend performance looms, it’s time for the artists to present a showing of the works-in-progress for their peers to give feedback on. Jonzi D gives a run-down on all those involved, and we see early renditions of the work for the first time.
EPISODE 5 - Premieres 7pm GMT, Tue 19 Sept
It’s the final day of rehearsals! With the show taking place in one day, it’s time to face the crunch of polishing the works-in-progress and finalising any last-minute changes. From the quietly confident and experience Dan-I Harris Walters to Paul Corben’s theatrical debut, the change of location to the Sadler’s Wells studios reflects the changing feelings of the artists.
EPISODE 6 - Premieres 7pm GMT, Thu 21 Sept
Sadler’s Wells, Lilian Baylis Studio – it’s show time – let’s see some performances! Up in the first half we have Dan-I Harris Walters, Matthew Eudu and Lerato Sekonya’s performance.
EPISODE 7 - Premieres 7pm GMT, Sun 24 Sept
It’s a show of two halves! April Milliner, Paul Corben and Kofi Mingo debut their performances and we hear audience reactions from the evening.