The Project

The Pleasance Theatre London, February 4-12 2011 / £8 / 8pm

Box Office: 020 7609 1800 / www.pleasance.co.uk

“One of our capital city's rarest shows” Urban World

In response to three sold out debut performances in June, London Urban Collective return with their sensational Hipopera Purgatory for eight nights and their shot at raising enough funds to take the cast and production to The Edinburgh Festival later this summer.

Giving this unique social enterprise its distinctive and aspirational edge, Urban Collective challenges young people, chosen from open auditions, to tackle a classic text, tapping into their creativity and imaginations to question how an epic story resonates today. Pleasance Theatre director Anthony Alderson said: “London Urban Collective is such a unique and exciting project. We’re delighted to be supporting it and showcasing Purgatory.”

Based on the first phase of Dante’s epic poem, London Urban Collective created their first Hipopera Inferno in 2009, writing all of the dialogue in their own rap, verse and song. The production was then made into a short feature film that won Best Narrative Short at the Chicago International Hip Hop Film Festival.

As a follow up, a new Collective tackled their adaptation of Dante’s journey into Purgatory and the end result is a performance in which every word, every lyric, every idea has been freshly conceived in a theatre production that fuses classical music, hip hop, narrative, suspense and stunning set pieces.

The final performance on February 12th will feature a collaborative live performance from electro pop icons Kissing The Pink and an auction to win the seven sins images designed by Kevin Elliott.

Press please contact Kim Shankar, Vision PR on +44 207 199 0107 kim@visionmusic.co.uk www.londonurbancollective.com / www.urbancollectiveprohject.org