Conscious Dramaturgy: Baba Brinkman @ Edfringe 2017

Baba Brinkman’s Rap Guide To Consciousness

Assembly George Square Studios

17:40 (18:40)

2 – 28 August

(Not 15)

Fringe First winner and "peer-reviewed rapper" Baba Brinkman (Rap Guide to Evolution, Rap Guide to Religion) explores the scientific study of consciousness in his latest hip-hop comedy. Baba's brain consists of roughly 90 billion neurons with trillions of connections, and none of them has any clue that he exists.

And yet those cells come together to produce a steady stream of ill rhymes, laughs, and mind-blowing scientific findings. Come and find out how.

What was the inspiration for this performance?

In 2014 I was hired to perform at a consciousness conference. I had never written any material about consciousness, but the conference organizers challenged me to attend the scientific lectures and write raps each day summarizing their content, which I performed each day to camera for a video blog of the conference, and also performed at the conclusion for everyone attending, including world experts in neuroscience. 

I got utterly fascinated by the subject and decided to write a whole show about it. Also, my wife is a neuroscientist, although I can’t honestly tell whether I wrote this show because I married a neuroscientist, or whether I married a neuroscientist because I wanted to write this show.

Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas? 

I would say performance is a good space to catalyze the public discussion of ideas, since it provides a common space for thought provocation and a shared experience that audiences can draw on to start a conversation.

How did you become interested in making performance?

I was a fan of poetry and rap in the nineties and I got the idea into my head that rap music and lyrics and culture would be a great platform to bring the traditions of verse theatre into a modern setting. 

My thesis at school was about Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and freestyle battling and how similar the two forms were, and in 2004 I brought my first rap theatre show to the Fringe. This year will be my ninth Fringe and my ninth rap theatre show, so I guess the concept is connecting.

Is there any particular approach to the making of the show?

It starts with about six months of reading up on the science I’m exploring in the show, listening to audiobooks and researching online, taking notes and getting to the point where I can have a moderately informed conversation on the subject with a true expert and actually ask pointed questions that don’t betray complete ignorance. 

Then once I’ve got the ideas in hand, I search for characters and social dynamics that will help to bring those ideas to life. In this show I do one rap from the perspective of someone in a vegetative state, one rap about my infant son and why he may or may not have any consciousness at all, and one where I’m talking to an octopus while tripping on mushrooms. 

Those characters were not in the original plan, but they seemed like good focal points for important ideas about what consciousness is and how it works.

Does the show fit with your usual productions?

This is the fifth “Rap Guide” to a scientific subject I’ve brought to the Fringe, with previous shows covering Evolution, Human Nature, Religion, and Climate Change, so yeah, I definitely have a format I work with at this point.

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

I hope audiences will experience a profound sense of horror and vertigo as their accustomed confidence in the accuracy of their perceptions and beliefs is dismantled point by point, followed by a cathartic belly laugh as they realize that temporarily losing your grip on reality isn’t such a bad thing, and even if we accept ourselves as biological machines without immaterial souls, everything we value survives the transition except for our superstitious baggage.

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

Dope rhymes and irreverent jokes, that’s about it.

Three for Amanda: Fringe picks.

It's great to hear from you: hope you are looking forward to the Fringe! I am always a big ambiguous about it: it is hard work, and I get to see plenty of exciting theatre, but I worry about the crushed dreams and having to fight through crowds to get anywhere! And you don't know anyone who wants a house guest during August, do you?

Anyway - you asked what I was looking forward to, and my official reply is nothing. I can't play favourites yet! But I can recommend things that you might enjoy. 

I think Baba Brinkman will be right up your street this year. I'm not sure how you feel about hip hop (and this isn't the kind of rap with all the curse words, mind), but I know you like a little bit of Green politics. Brinkman is an intelligent performer, and got famous for mixing rap and science at the previous Fringes. It might be a little like preaching to the choir for you, because you probably know all this stuff already. But I like his smile. 

Not sure how you are feeling about dance these days - nor am I, because I don't get to write it about that often for The List. I did see Inala last night - Ladysmith Black Mambazo and the choreographer from Rambert, together at last, but the Fringe is never a good place for ballet. It lacks the right venues, I think.

But look at this: RIOT has dancers dressed up as superheroes. We

probably don't want to get into my thoughts on this particular cosplay combination, but I am really excited by this. I like my choreography dynamic, and having the cast leap about like The Avengers is sure to mean loads of smack-downs and tough sequences. It's the Fringe, and after fifteen days without sleep, I am going to need something that wakes me up. They have also suggested that they like audience members who shout stuff at them as they perform. 

And the show questions the way in which dominant systems have defined the superhero genre. 

Do you think the stage is a good place to discuss gender politics? Being a critic, I tend to think it is a good place to discuss anything, but I am having my doubts... the thing is, theatre is all about

performance, so all the action on-stage is performative. It just seems to be asking for trouble when a show tries to make statements about Big Issues through a medium that is let's pretend for adults. 

So maybe it is unsurprising I am suggesting The Maids. Genet's play was meant to be done by men pretending to be women, and fiddles about with the expectation of an audience, reminding them that they are not watching real life... but this version is by an all female cast, which puts a layer back on... or removes it...

Martin Crimp did the translation, and he is known for his own rough and tough scripts. The Maids is a great one for a quiet and safe evening of theatre. Honest. 

But let's catch up soon: I have been a bit bogged down lately with this database business, but I am sure the sun will be out by the time it all begins... won't it?

The Climate of Dramaturgy: Baba Brinkman @ Edfringe 2015

Global warming, how bad can it really be? That depends on who’s asking. Some species will do pretty well (algae, cockroaches, jellyfish), others face certain extinction. Likewise, some people are in a better position to capitalize on climate chaos than others. Fringe First winner Baba Brinkman (Rap Guide to Evolution) explores the science of climate chaos, whether it’s avoidable, and how we can expect primates such as ourselves to behave as it all goes down.

The Fringe 

What inspired this production: did you begin with an idea or a script or an object? 

Baba Brinkman: The production was inspired by persistent nudges. Several people, including climate scientists, approached me after my previous shows: Rap Guide to Evolution and Rap Guide to Religion and suggested I do global warming next. 

At first I shrugged the idea off, but over time I grew more and more intrigued by the polarization and intractability of the topic, which is far more heated and controversial than either religion or evolution, surprisingly. Exploring both the crux of the controversy and the psychology of action vs inaction became the meat of the show. 

Why bring your work to Edinburgh? 

Edinburgh for me is a lab that takes a rough-hewn concept and helps it find a groove. My shows tend to change and evolve a lot over the course of the festival in response to audience feedback, but by the end I usually feel like I have something that’s ready for the world. Also, without Edinburgh I would take far longer to devise each show. Speaking of global warming, nothing heats up one's creativity like an impending run at the Edinburgh Fringe. 

What can the audience expect to see and feel - or even think - of your production? 

They will probably initially think: “Isn’t it a bit odd for a white Canadian in his thirties to be rapping about science?” Beyond that, once they settle in, they will be taken on a whiplash tour of climate science, the history, the challenge currently facing humanity, and the set of proposals on the table to set things right. 

They will hear the voices of the Pope, climate deniers, scientists, activists, and gangster rappers, each of whom have a very different take on the subject. I hope in the end that people will have a clearer sense of what’s going on and what can be done, and especially what is and isn’t worth losing sleep over, all while having a laugh and having their minds stimulated. 

The Dramaturgy Questions 

How would you explain the relevance - or otherwise - of dramaturgy within your work? 

It’s one thing to write a collection of rap songs and stories and rhyming dramatic monologues about a subject, but staging it and shaping it into an experience and an emotionally resonant narrative arc is another matter. Dramaturgy is the entire reason I’m performing at the Fringe instead of at music venues, it’s every aspect of the storytelling besides the script. 

What particular traditions and influences would you

acknowledge on your work - have any particular artists, or genres inspired you and do you see yourself within their tradition? 

I don’t have theatre training, so I can’t acknowledge theatrical influences or dramaturgical philosophies without spouting bollocks. I was a rapper first, and over the past ten years I’ve trained myself to be a hip-hop theatre performer. I’ve absorbed techniques from various directors I’ve worked with, and also just learnt to instinctively read my audience and adjust my performance to enhance their experience where possible. 

I see myself within a convergence of three traditions: hip-hop concerts, stand-up comedy, and public intellectuals who present information accessibly like Richard Dawkins, Jane Goodall and David Attenborough. I take those three elements and add characters and voices and weave them into theatre. 

I did a show for a group of sixth form drama students once and afterwards the teacher said to the students: “Did you note the Brechtian elements in his performance?” I was like: “Oh yeah? Fill me in…" 

Do you have a particular process of making that you could describe - where it begins, how you develop it, and whether there is any collaboration in the process? 

My process begins as if I were writing a rap album. I write a one-page outline of the show, with chapters/songs bulleted, and from there I work with instrumental loops, which eventually become the soundtrack to the show. I select a sequence of musical pieces that capture the tone and emotional valence of each scene and write the lyrics/script to fit the vibe of the beat. Right from the beginning there is collaboration with musicians and producers. I go back and forth with them to craft the sound, asking for revisions to the tracks. Then once there’s a script the collaboration with the director begins, to craft the delivery, intonation, blocking, lighting, etc. 

What do you feel the role of the audience is, in terms of making the meaning of your work?
I’m old school hip-hop, like Rakim says: “No mistakes allowed / ‘Cause for me, ‘MC' means ‘move the crowd.’” The audience is integral to the meaning of the work, and I try to involve them throughout via call and response and by getting inputs from them that can be worked into the show, as much as possible without derailing it. 

I’ve always respected hip-hop music as a genre because it’s audience-oriented, rather than performer oriented. It’s not about “expressing yourself” or “having something to say”; it’s about having an impact on people and giving them an experience.

Are there any questions that you feel I have missed out that would help me to understand how dramaturgy works for you?
Dozens, but at a certain point I would probably just start making stuff up, so this seems like a good place to finish.



Rap Guide to Climate Chaos
Wine Bar: Gilded Balloon 19.00-20.00
5-31 Aug
Previews 5-7 Aug
£7.00
8, 9, 12, 13, 17, 19, 20, 24-27, 31 Aug
£10.00 /£8.00
10, 11 Aug
£12.00/£10.00 (2-4-1)
14-16, 21-23, 28-30 Aug
£12.00/£10.00
No Show 18 Aug

Baba Brinkman and Heather Berlin: Off The Top
Canon’s Gait (Venue 78)
12.10 (13.05)
8-30 Aug