Breaking Cycles – The Devil has Quentins Heart 2011 UK tour

Benji Reid’s hip hop theatre company Breaking Cycles is back for 2011 with The Devil has Quentin’s Heart and Benji playing the role of Quentin Forrest, a Wall Street Broker that sold his soul to the devil for a success and lavish lifestyle.

Based on Iced, a novel by Ray Shell about an American hooked on crack, Benji Reid based The Devil has Quentin’s Heart on a trader hooked on playing the market to please his father, in a dark drama mixed with dancing.

“What could hip-hop heads expect from The Devil has Quentin’s Heart?” Benji asks rhetorically. “Coming from a popping background and brought up on hip hop and rap stage shows, I’d say that the show’s like Faust and [US producer] Flying Lotus trapped together in a dark room and it’s likely to appeal to anyone who liked the dark humour of Eminem’s first album.”

Video: The Devil has Quentin’s Heart Interview with Benji Reid

Dark humour prevails through with the atmospheric film noir lighting and set design to pre-empt the downfall set to a stirring cinematic soundtrack.

“Working with our DJ and sound designer Andrew Wong is always a joy. He’s onstage throughout the whole show mixing the soundtrack live. Work like an MC and DJ but I physicalise stories over the cinematic tracks that he provides.”

Drawing parallels to Shell’s novel, the story of Quentin takes place as an alcoholic Quentin roams the streets of New York during his last hour before Satan comes for him…

If you’ve seen the satire of Jonzi D’s Markus the Sadist, The Devil has Quentin’s Heart looks like it will have something, in a time where bankers are still getting ludicrous bonues, timely and relevent to say!

The Devil has Quentin’s Heart UK 2011 tour

March 2 – Contact Theatre
March 4 – Nuffield Theatre
March 8 – The New Wolsey Theatre
March 10 – The Albany
24-26 – The Nuffield
1 April – Exeter Northcott