If Shakespeare were alive today he would have been a hip-hop MC, of that I am convinced after seeing the Bomb-Itty of Errors. Based upon the Comedy of Errors this frothy, farcical, hip-hop and rap romp has been transferred to the London stage by 'The Bomb-Itty crew', via the Edinburgh festival and the major cultural cities of the US, losing none of its energy en route. 
      The pleasure of words, not least in rhyme and double entendre, taken by hip-hop and rap culture perfectly mirrors Shakespeare's poetry. If Shakespeare is failing in the classroom, this might be one way to update him and bring him to a young audience. 
      Hip-hop gets a bad press these days, not least because of its association with black-on-black gun crime. The newspapers have been quick to draw links and point fingers at this kind of music, which glamorises the 'bling bling' life- style of money, drugs, violence, guns and girls, suggesting that this influences young black men to carry guns as fashion accessories. Yet what the press is missing in criticising this style of music is that it is a great method of mass communication. People connect with it and therefore it can be used as a light-hearted forum to address the issues of contemporary living. What better way to redress the drubbing in the press than for hip-hop to bring the very oldest of the old guard, Shakespeare, to a young audience. After all, Shakespeare's themes ' love, troubled marriages and in this case broken families, hate and betrayal, grief, anger and the causes of war' remain focally relevant today. The current plethora of similar plays, and the high profile film '8 mile' starring Eminem, already show that hip-hop, which started as an underground trend, has entered the main stream of entertainment at full throttle. It is perhaps difficult to imagine how a hip-hop version of Macbeth might look, but I for one would be delighted to see someone have a go! 
      The Bomb-Itty of Errors is delivered at lightning speed. Blink and you'll miss the rhymes. There are only four members in the crew, doubling up for all the roles. It adds to the farce when they cannot quite make their costume changes fast enough. And the fact that the guys play the female roles too (how very Elizabethan) further adds to the fun. 
      The energy of the players carries everything pacily along, with audience participation a requisite: 'throw your hands in the air like you just don't care'! There is plenty of Shakespeare's bawdy humour too and the sexual innuendoes come thick and fast. There are also some rather grotesque stereotypes that we come to expect from Shakespeare, the money-lending Jew and (less usual) the gay cop. 
      With all these ingredients 'Shakespeare with a new twist' this production deserves to make a big noise in the West End.
Anna Lehmann