Conrad Murray’s life in the arts has been a battle. There have been plenty of high points, both in his individual theatrical pursuits and as artistic director of Battersea Arts Centre’s brilliant Beatbox Academy. A trilogy of Murray’s plays, all of which merge hip-hop, theatre and working-class stories, was published last year. He’s started composing rap, hip-hop and beatbox-infused scores for a number of increasingly high-profile musicals, including Michael Rosen’s Unexpected Twist. And perhaps most notably, in 2018, Murray found success with Beatbox Academy’s first professional production, Frankenstein. The show garnered five-star reviews, toured the country and was eventually transformed into a powerful documentary on BBC iPlayer.
There’s no doubt Murray has made it. But he’s still fighting. Fighting to tell stories that reflect the people he knows; in an tweet in the summer, Murray wrote: “Working-class voices in theatre are so unrepresented … there is no nuance or truth.” Fighting for respect from theatre practitioners who still don’t understand his process (lots of casting directors balk at Murray’s use of workshops rather than more conventional auditions). Fighting to create theatre that’s open to everyone (Murray has fought hard for “accessible” productions, which allow people to keep their phones switched on throughout the show, arrive late and generally act a little more freely).
