Crongton Knights Review

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Wasn’t to sure what to expect for my very first outing to the Brighton’s Royal Theatre . The first thing I noticed was the amount of the kids outside that were queuing and I think apart from a few other guardians who were minding groups of school kids I was the only other adult at the show Wednesday night .Of course what was I to expect , as on further insight this was the shows target audience .

Alex Wheatle’s children’s acclaimed children’s book had been brought to the stage from a dynamic effort and  co-production between Pilot Theatre, Belgrade Theatre, Derby Theatre and York Theatre Royal. It has been  a busy few months for the crew , travelling the country and receiving some startling reviews . And this week they came to Brighton and yours truly was there to see it . Crongton Knights is actually the follow up production dedicated to developing theatre for younger audiences.

After a very successful tour of Noughts and Crosses in 2019, this unique  take on Alex Wheatle’s children’s book  by Emteaz Hussain’s whose adaptation delivers an energetic take on inner city life steeped in gang violence and adversity. The story is based on  six teenagers living on a council estate of South Crongton . The play is essentially based on a risky journey to another rival estate in order to retrieve a phone that contains intimate images belonging to one of the girls .

One of the things I Ioved about this was the ever revolving cube set , graffiti and all ! A typical place you could find in any local estate hangout .Boxed,cubed and turning simultaneousnessly with each scene,  different characters would come to light from different corners fairly seamlessly as the script moved on, some changing from worried Nigerian father one minute , the local police constabulary the next , with each accent down to a very fine tee.

The play takes us on a journey that  many young inner city kids can find themselves in from the all too familiar threats of gang violence and rivalry to  knife crime , harsh home life to the dark side of smart phones. However these are played out on stage in a lighter musical note , from rap and beat box themes to some very slick voices and choral singing . Corey Campbell and Esther Richardson’s production is high octance stuff and goes from nigerian cooking one minute to  knife attacks the next . And why not – isn’t that where the kidz are at these days? By Nick Staunton

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