Poet in da Corner

Following its critically acclaimed and sold out premiere in 2018, Poet in da Corner returns for a limited run from 30 Jan 2020 before going on tour.
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A coming of age story inspired by Dizzee Rascal’s seminal album.

In a strict Mormon household somewhere in the seam between East London and Essex, a girl is given Dizzee Rascal’s ground-breaking grime album Boy in da Corner by her best friend SS Vyper.

Precisely 57 minutes and 21 seconds later, her life begins to change – from feeling muted by dyslexia to spitting the power of her words; from being conflicted about her sexuality to finding the freedom to explore; from feeling alone to being given the greatest gift by her closest friend.

In this semi-autobiographical piece, step into a technicolour world where music, dance and spoken word collide, and discover how grime allowed Debris Stevenson to redefine herself.

Debris Stevenson is a young poet, lyricist and dancer who has performed her unique work everywhere from BBC Radio 3’s The Verb to London’s Roundhouse.

Directed by Ola Ince, featuring grime MC Jammz, with music and composition by Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante from hip-hop dance company Boy Blue.

This new work is part of 14-18 NOW, the UK’s arts programme for the First World War centenary and created as part of Represent, a series of artworks inspired by the Representation of the People Act 1918. While the act gave the vote only to women over 30, Represent invites young female artists to explore democracy, equality and inclusion in contemporary Britain.

Co-commissioned by 14-18 NOW: WW1 Centenary Art Commissions and the Royal Court Theatre, supported by Jerwood Charitable Foundation, in association with Nottingham Playhouse and Leicester Curve. 14-18 NOW: WW1 Centenary Art Commissions is supported by the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund and Arts Council England, and by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.