Conrad Murray: Remixing the Canon with Pied Piper Hip-Hop

“I approached my adaptation to classics like Frankenstein and Pied Piper like a remix mixtape for the theatre”. For Conrad Murray, the canon isn’t a collection of untouchable monuments; it’s a source of raw, kinetic material waiting to be sampled. As his hip-hop reimagining of the Pied Piper embarks on a national tour this February, it arrives not just as a piece of “high-voltage sonic experience”, but as a manifesto for reclamation.

Murray, the Artistic Director of rODIUM (co-producers of the show alongside Battersea Arts Centre) and a visionary of the BAC Beatbox Academy, is busy proving that the street’s voice doesn’t just belong in the hallowed halls of theatre—it’s the only thing that can keep them alive.

There is a specific, productive friction liable to occur when medieval German folklore meets the distorted guitars of grime and the precision of live-looping.

The Remix Mixtape: Reclaiming High Culture for the Streets

For Murray, taking on Western “high culture” is a deliberate act of appropriation. It is about taking stories that have formed the bedrock of childhood for generations and making them “fit for our voices and our times”. “There is something special about revisiting them and remixing them in our voices and our bodies,” Murray notes. “The fact that we can update them makes them living, breathing and brilliant. I don’t understand people who think that stories should stay exactly the same. People with these views don’t understand what makes these pieces of literature and characters so powerful and enduring”.

In the case of his earlier success, Frankenstein: How to Make a Monster, the choice of a classic was also a pragmatic move by a creator who knows how to navigate the industry. “We were trying to be hustlers and have something we could perform!” Murray admits.

“There is something special about revisiting them and remixing them in our voices and our bodies,” Murray notes. “The fact that we can update them makes them living, breathing and brilliant.

The hope was to create work that could easily slide into schools, but the result was a production that “blew up” and earned international acclaim. That same “hustler” spirit—the ability to find a life for art in any venue, from a classroom to a main stage—drives the current tour of Pied Piper.

The Politics of Silence: Fighting the Erosion of Arts Education

In Murray’s Hamelin, the town is defined by a “music ban” and a soul-crushing pie factory. It is a plot point that feels less like a fable and more like a grim reflection of modern Britain. With the systematic erosion of arts education in state schools—where drama and music have been stripped from nearly half of all institutions—the play acts as a “timely theme” meeting “timeless drama”. “Music and drama changed my life,” Murray says, pointing to the moment a social worker told him about the BRIT school, a free institution that transformed his trajectory. “The fact that drama and music has been taken out of 50% of schools is heartbreaking. Those subjects change lives and teach us empathy. It doesn’t even make business sense. The top company’s aren’t saying they need more maths, they are saying they need more empathy, eye contact and collaboration”.

The production is a loud, rhythmic protest against this silence. “We chose Piper because it’s a story which shows how we as humans need art, we need creativity, and we need it to be in our lives and in our schools”. In the world of the play, the kids in the factory find their creative voices to fight back, mirroring the real-world need for youth-led music and storytelling.

The Science of the Sublime: Vibration, Frequency, and Narrative

At the heart of Pied Piper is beatboxing—not as a “party trick,” but as the very architecture of the narrative. In Murray’s practice, the sounds of the human voice provide the percussion, the basslines, and the atmospherics. It is a process where the beat and the scene are in a constant, symbiotic dialogue. “There are times when the scene will dictate the beat and the pulse of the scene. Then sometimes we will create a piece of music, and soundscape first, responding to the emotion of the story beat and then build on top of that”.

This approach requires the audience to reconsider what they are witnessing. It is a “magnificent and rare thing” to see a production refuse the easy path of a pre-recorded soundtrack. Instead, the cast becomes the music. This creates what Murray describes as a connection to the “sublime”. “We are all connected, and everything is always vibrating and is a collection of frequencies. When the cast become music with their bodies and voices, they become one with the audience and for a short moment we can all connect to the sublime”. This is a unique field of practice; Murray points out that there are very few Musical Directors or composers whose entire methodology is “predicated on beatboxing, rap and vocal sounds”. While it may be “comparable to other things,” he is effectively carving out a new lane in British theatre.

Beyond the Identikit: Casting for Authenticity and Global Majority Voices

The visual and sonic impact of the show is amplified by a cast that rejects the “identikit” mould of the traditional theatre industry. The performers—including the likes of Aziza Brown, David Bonnick Jr, and Alex ‘ABH’ Hackett—bring a “sensational” energy that is “impressive and infectious”. “There is also the fact that we aren’t identikit actor types. And that’s important,” Murray asserts. “You hear incredible music and sounds, but you also see the people who are making it. Working class. Global majority. Care experienced. It is powerful and life-affirming for the performers”.

**Pied Piper Derby – Credit: Matthew Cooper**

This isn’t just about representation; it’s about the “magic of possibility”. When an audience watches a performer from a similar background “achieving the impossible” with their voice, the connection is immediate and validating. “It doesn’t seem possible that this can happen, and witnessing this event on stage, allows the audience to connect to the performers, their journey and achieving the impossible”.

Disruptive Excellence: Why Local Chaos is Essential to the Tour

Touring a professional production is a logistical hurdle; touring it while integrating a new “community chorus” of local young people at every single stop is a “crazy level of stress”. Yet, for Murray, this variable of chaos is the point. He is less interested in a “stylistically ‘great show’” than he is in using the theatre as a tool for a “paradigm shift”. “I want to change what a ‘great show’ and ‘excellence’ looks like. If we can clearly have talent and craft, and create paradigm shifts, then that is great art”.

This “risk” is a deliberate disruption of the polished, “tidy adventure” often found in family theatre. The audience gets to see the children from their own communities “smash it up” on a professional stage, creating memories that Murray believes will last a lifetime. “Watching kids from their communities smash it up and make memories… proves the message of the show. That taking creative risks is important, people are important”.

Navigating the Shadows: Nuance, Influence, and the Enigmatic Piper

Murray’s adaptation retains the “deeply atmospheric” and “noir” sensibilities of the original folklore. The Piper remains an ambiguous, even “enigmatic” figure who oscillates between hero and vengeful force. “I was always excited by the grey area of the Piper,” Murray admits. “I feel like we live in a world without nuance. And nuance is exciting. That is where the real life is. The Piper comes across as a hero, but then after he gets ripped off shows the most darkest behaviour by getting his revenge”.

The show explores the consequences of being “mugged off” by authority and the darkness that can follow. It challenges the younger audience members to look beyond the “flawless hero” trope. In a world of social media influence, the lesson is clear: “We can sometimes use some of their example but at the end of the day, we have to make our own decisions and not be totally influenced, however many followers someone has”. Even the “serious rat problem” is handled with sonic ingenuity. Rather than relying on “intense prosthetics,” the production uses “unbelievable rat sounds” to manifest the plague.

From Battersea to the Wanamaker: Beatboxing in Shakespeare’s House

The reach of Murray’s “remix” philosophy is perhaps most evident in his current work, co-composing Deep Azure at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. Moving from the “raw energy” of a beatbox jam to the “hallowed, candlelit wooden O” of the Globe represents a major milestone for the art form. “I’m not sure that they are totally used to beatboxing and rapping at the Globe,” Murray says, “but they seem to be enjoying it, and I have heard that it has lifted the performance and got glowing feedback”.

“I feel like we live in a world without nuance. And nuance is exciting. That is where the real life is. The Piper comes across as a hero, but then after he gets ripped off shows the most darkest behaviour by getting his revenge”.

Conrad Murray

For Murray, it is a moment of “staying firm” to his core beliefs. He is working alongside performers like Aminita Francis and Nadine Rose Johnson—artists he has known since they were teenagers. “To see them rise and all three of us to be together at a legendary venue is quite something else. And this has been the vision all along. To take these street arts, and hip hop culture, and show how incredible they are!”.

The Ethical North Star: Respect, Love, and People-Centred Storytelling

Whether he is at the Globe, the Hull Truck, or the Scarborough Spa, Murray’s “personal standard” remains unshakeable. It is a “nourishing tale” of dedication to the craft and the community. He treats every venue and every workshop with the same “people-centred” ethos. “I treat it all with the same ethos. Respect. Love. People centred”. It is this commitment to the “incredible skills of young people” that defines the rODIUM mission. Pied Piper is looking to be more than a tour; it is a declaration that creativity is a right, not a privilege, and that the voices of the streets are the loudest ones in the room.

“Ultimately,” he says, “I want people to leave the show feeling like they’ve seen something that’s so beautifully crafted and that there’s hope for the future.”

Featured Image: Lead Image Pied Piper – Credit The Other Richard