Tones - A Hip-Hop Opera
Fresh from the Edinburgh Festival, Gerel Falconer writes and performs his one-man show at Brixton House to a standing ovation. Exploring Black-British culture and class through rap, Tones charts the formative years of smart kid, Jerome (Falconer).
The hilarious storytelling doesn’t shy away from the significance of how growing up in London as a Black working class kid in a country pre-occupied with race, culture and class impacts Jerome’s life, identity and his battle to be accepted. I could sense his confusion, when he is not doing anything wrong, but feels like he can’t get it right. Eager to fit in with his primary school bestie, Henry, he acts like their rich white friends to the dislike of his Black contemporaries, who call him “posh” and “white boy”. He loses touch with Henry who goes off to private school, but a chance encounter a few years later encourages Jerome to apply for Durham University. In between Jerome becomes a DJ (The Professor) and a mixture of hip-hop, grime and drill music plays (courtesy of composer 3D Williams) adding to the entertainment and enhancing the narrative.
As the lighting changes, Falconer effortlessly switches between Henry, his warm-hearted Mom, his wise Uncle and his Uni girlfriend, never missing a beat. Each with a distinct voice, I could picture the conversations as if the characters were on stage. The impact of his Uncle’s words of wisdom on the young Jerome punctuated the light hearted take on things to remind us of the more serious subjects being explored in Tones.
Almost entirely rapped, his precise diction and engaging dialogue transfixed me for the entire hour. It’s a shame the sound crackled a couple of times. With very few props, his words conjured up images of sitting in his living room as a young boy watching Blind Date to a party at Durham mixing with people who assume his cousin is selling drugs. Falconer’s story telling was so convincing that I thought he’d lived every detail. Being a Durham student myself, his description of the public school characters, using his broom to double up as a shooting rifle was so familiar to me that I asked Falconer after the show if he went there. He didn’t. Testament to great observation and writing, I was transported back to many a night out and conversation.
Brixton House has a fabulous atmosphere, intimate staging and aims to “inspire new artistic experiences and… develop… community solidarity and passion for social change in society”*. If you want to support its mission and vision, Tones is a great place to start and is on until 15 February 2025.
I was lucky enough to sit near to Falconer’s Mom, Beverley, and her friend Angela during the show. We got talking, they were bursting with pride for good reason. Falconer is as talented a performer as he is a writer. Beverley told me he’d been writing for an ITV drama too. Standing up with the rest of the crowd at the end, arms above her head, Angela shouted, “you moved me”. Me too Angela, me too.
Tones - A Hip-Hop Opera was reviewed on 5th November 2024 at Brixton House.
Review written by Victoria Willetts
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Photo credit: Ikin Yum
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