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» The Rebel Cell

image The Rebel Cell

Cast List

Dizraeli
Baba Brinkman

‘The Rebel Cell' is clever, it's interesting and it's quite entertaining. It is not for everyone though. Infact, if you're not a second year university student who's angry at ‘the man' and have too much time on your hands, you'll probably want to sit this one out.

The story is essentially a simple one no matter how complex it thinks it is. Set in 2013, England has become the dysfunctional nation, held together by capitalist sellotape and observed warily by other nations. Criticising the government is regarded as terrorism and civil liberties have been all but dispensed with. Dizraeli storms into this chaos on the back of a bombing during the 2012 Olympics that left hundreds dead. He wants to fight the corrupt system, the corrupt government. He and the rest of his ‘rebel cell'. How? By getting naked and banging drums. Yes, because that worked so well for Kunta Kinte.

Working as a sort of twisted parallel to Dizraeli, is his ex-friend and rap partner Baba Brinkman. To some he's a sell-out, to others, a voice of reason. He has a better if half-hearted idea of how to fight the system. Brinkman puts down the mike and picks up a pen (although as Dizraeli comments, the sword is mightier in this case). He becomes a journalist and tries to convince Dizraeli that his methods are structurally, greatly flawed.

Overall, it is easy to see that Dizraeli and Brinkman are lyrically gifted. They do beautiful things with words that will really make you consider buying a CD of the performance after the show. If you are really into rap music, you probably will get a CD. Additionally, both men are superb actors and they do manage to translate to the audience, the chaos of this dystopia. Somehow, they have you believing that if the government did get into bed with TESCO, it would be a...well, bad, bad thing.

Ultimately, I just could not take the basis of this play seriously. Maybe I will when the establishment destroys my right to free speech. Maybe. For now though, I think I'll just pay my bills, pay my taxes, and get on yet another replacement bus while muttering angrily about how that Boris is just as much of a useless div as Ken Livingstone.

Written By Chichi Opara

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