Mark Grist Set to Bring ROGUE TEACHER Rap Battle Show to Edfringe
By: James T Harding May. 18, 2012
In 2011, Mark Grist went from being an English teacher in the fens to defeating a teenage grime artist in a rap battle that has attracted over 2 million hit on YouTube. In his first solo Edinburgh show, ROGUE TEACHER, he shares his eventful journey from the classroom to the battlefield through his unique brand of spoken word. The show plays August 2-26 (not 14th) at the Delhi Belly, Underbelly.
Mark’s adventure begins when, mid-recession, he leaves teaching to become a full-time poet and enter the world of the rap battle (underground hip hop contests in which two rappers direct vicious insults at each other in turn). When, suited and booted, he was pitched against 17 year-old grime artist ‘Blizzard’, the amazed audience went wild and the contest went viral.
Rogue Teacher follows Mark’s trajectory through education, from his first love when he was ten years old, to the frustrations that led him to turn his back on teaching, and the extraordinary lengths he went to in order to pay his mortgage. Along the way, Mark weaves in gems including an ode to redheads, a ‘univocalism’ (and ingenious poem using only one vowel), and a particularly brutal rap battle against himself as a teenager.
Mark Grist: Rogue Teacher has been selected for Escalator East to Edinburgh 2012. Each year Escalator East to Edinburgh helps artists and arts organisations to raise their profile and perform to new audiences as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
As well as a rap battler and YouTube phenomenon, Mark is a poet and Educational Consultant. He became Poet Laureate of Peterborough in 2008, Chief Bard of the Fens in 2009 and Edinburgh Fringe Slam Champion in 2010. His double-act, Dead Poets, received critical and audience acclaim at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2010, appeared on BBC 6 Music with Steve Merchant, and toured nationally with Phrased and Confused. He is currently developing television and film projects based on his rap battle experiences.
Tickets for previews August 2-3 are £6; weekday tickets are £9.50/£8.50; weekends £10.50/£9.50 and two for one tickets will be offered August 6-7 from the box office 0845 545 8252 or underbelly.co.uk.
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