Today
HighRise Theatre were the first company to spend time at artsdepot as part of our Artist Residency programme, with a residency in the Creation Space in January 2015.
The company explored an idea to develop a show looking at the relationship between care leaving and youth homelessness, through a hip hop musical inspired by Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book.
The Concrete Jungle Book catapults Rudyard Kipling’s classic story and characters into the streets of inner-city Britain. As the jungle’s trees become tower blocks, Mo(wgli) navigates his way through relationships, unstable housing conditions and hostile creatures, trying to find the father figure he has always longed for. With live rap music, spoken word and high energy physicality, HighRise Theatre present The Jungle Book like you’ve never imagined.
HighRise Theatre and artsdepot continued to work together over the next 2 years, collaborating with Centrepoint and developing a creative learning programme engaging young people with experience of homelessness, including creative workshops and skills development, with eight participants working towards Arts Award qualifications.
Following further development of the show and a preview performance at artsdepot in July 2017, HighRise Theatre and artsdepot took The Concrete Jungle Book to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. One participant from the creative learning programme accompanied HighRise to Edinburgh as a paid apprentice.
The show was popular with audiences and received great reviews: “The use of rap, grime and spoken word throughout offers a fresh approach to a well-known tale, with great skill and creativity employed by the stellar cast, especially in the play’s darkest and most compelling moments.” The List ****
HighRise Theatre have continued to develop The Concrete Jungle Book – find out more.
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