Shakespeare rap

Students repackage bard, take it to people

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It started as a college kid's assignment but it's turned into an off-Broadway success that's, once again, got the masses talking about Shakespeare.

Gregory Qaiyum orchestrated the British bard's revival by rewriting one of Shakespeare's plays, "A Comedy of Errors," in a more current genre' -- rap. Qaiyum and four of his classmates reworked the sonnet, turned it into hip-hop and called it the Bomb-itty of Errors.

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Electronic Literature Foundation: The plays of William Shakespeare Audio: Master Plan of Sir Francis Bacon THE BOMB-ITTY OF ERRORS

The play's plot is still the same: Quadruplets separated at birth resurface together later and make much mischief. But the play is much more "now" as the characters hit the stage to sling rhymes and wave their hands in the air like they just don't care.

"They took the Shakespearean text and put it into this modern day hip-hop speak," said Daryl Roth, the plays off-Broadway producer. "It's just entirely unique and very fresh."

Erik Weiner, one of the cast members said it really wasn't much of a stretch to meld text from the 17th century into something modern. "Shakespeare lended itself so well to hip-hop just because of the rhythm of the words and the music of the language," Weiner said.

The play's reception and success has been a pleasant surprise for Qaiyum. The team earned an A for their senior arts project, and that's all they really expected, he said.

"When we started, it wasn't like 'We're going to be off Broadway,'" he explained. "It was like working and going to the school studio until 5:30 in the evening, coming back for 6:30 or 7 o'clock rehearsal 'til 11:30 p.m., meeting on the second floor at 11:30 and hiding in the studio until the security guards left."

Beside the good grade earned, the play was a success on campus. To get the word out about its off Broadway run, Qaiyum and crew rode subways giving mini performances and handing out leaflets.

It seemed the best way to publicize a Shakespearean play given how the playwright promoted himself.

"The way Shakespeare did his plays back then was they traveled around," Qaiyum said. "They saw a space. They just did it that night and there wasn't anything that was in the hands of the elite. It was for the people. It was like bawdy and it was raw."