Their first time remixing one of Plato’s dialogues, the Q Brothers’ previous works include Othello: The Remix, Rome Sweet Rome (Julius Caesar), ms. estrada (Lysistrata), and Long Way Home (The Odyssey). The performance complements the exhibition Plato in L.A.: Contemporary Artists’ Visions, opening April 18, 2018, at the Getty Villa.
Plato’s Phaedrus is a conversation between Socrates and Phaedrus which explores the themes of madness, the soul, love, and the art of discourse itself. In The Madness of Love Mixtape, the Q Brothers, GQ and JQ, have a sung conversation in rhyme with hip-hop, electronic, and pop musical influences. GQ is a right-brained, spiritually inspired individual who moves through the world with his gut and his heart as a guide. His brother JQ is the left-brained, reason-based pattern recognizer who moves through the world with his logic and his common sense as a guide. Can two brothers who access the world and their places in it with seemingly opposite approaches find common ground in a black-and-white world? That’s the question they ask as they explore Plato’s themes in the form of a hip-hop mixtape. As they alternate between tracks from “side A” and “side B” the audience sees and hears the brothers make their cases, trying to convince each other and prove that their personal view is closest to the truth. Perhaps there is a way, through bridging the two brothers’ respective musical styles, that we can find a way to bridge their world views, redefine some terms in the process, and see eye to eye in this current climate that seems obsessed with picking sides.
Performances take place in the Villa Auditorium on Friday, April 27, 2018, at 7:30pm, Saturday, April 28, 2018, at 3:00pm and 7:30pm, and Sunday, April 29, 2018, at 3:00pm. Tickets are $7 and can be reserved by calling 310-440-7300 or at the Villa Theater Lab.
About the Q Brothers
Musicians, actors, writers, educators, and DJs, GQ and JQ created and starred in the award-winning, internationally acclaimed productions Othello: The Remix and Funk It Up About Nothin’—both musical, hip hop “add-RAP-tations” of Shakespeare’s classics. Othello: The Remix most recently ran off-Broadway at the Westside Theatre, where it was produced by John Leguizamo, and received rave reviews and The New York Times Critic’s Pick award. Originally commissioned by Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London for the 2012 Globe to Globe Festival, O Remix was produced by Chicago Shakespeare Theater, played the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (MTM: UK Awards, Best Lyrics and Best New Musical), enjoyed a five-month run at Chicago Shakespeare Theater (Jeff Award, Best Ensemble), and has toured to Germany, South Korea, London, Poland, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, and New Zealand. Funk It Up About Nothin’ was commissioned by Chicago Shakespeare Theater (Jeff Award, Best Ensemble), ran at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Dress Circle Award, Best Musical), and toured to London and Australia. Q Brothers’ Christmas Carol had its world premiere at Chicago Shakespeare Theater and has since enjoyed consecutive sold-out runs in Chicago. Their off-Broadway smash hit The Bomb-itty of Errors, which they co-created and starred in, has toured around the world and is published with Sam French. A recent production was a two-man version of Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verona, called Q Gents, commissioned by Oregon Shakespeare Festival and now touring the world. Current commissions include the Q’s musical version of Homer’s The Odyssey called Long Way Home, for the Chicago Children’s Choir, ms. estrada (Aristophanes’ Lysistrata) for The Flea Theater in NYC, and a musical for Steppenwolf Theatre Co.
Film and television credits include the movie Drumline and the TV show Scratch and Burn (MTV), which they co-created and starred in, as well as work with Fox, CBS, and Showtime. The Q Brothers have numerous album credits as musicians and producers, including The Feel Good Album of the Year. They also conduct hip-hop workshops for children of all ages, and have worked at Connecticut College, Lehigh University, Lollapalooza Music Festival, Austin City Limits Music Festival, Bear Music Festival, the Latin School of Chicago, in London and throughout Australia, as well as in Cook County Jail (Chicago) and state prisons in Missouri.