The story
Stanhope is a shabby, state-run nursing-home with just a few remaining residents. That greet
the news the NHS is selling the place with resignation. But when moody nurse Kelis submits a
recording of their karaoke to a TV talent competition, they are taken by surprise to receive a
letter from the BBC inviting them to audition. The cash prize could buy the home outright.

All they have to do is form a chart-topping band in the space of a few weeks. The group, named 'OAPz' by the Jamaican Earl (Count Prince Basie of Desmond's'), discover their voice when they find hip hop music. Blending hard, honest rhymes with infectious melodies and mixes, OAPz start to produce powerful numbers like 'Countdown' (sampling the Channel 4 game show), 'Good Ol' Days Gwan Lef Behind', and 'OAP' ("It's easy as one, two, three!"), with its catchy dance routine.

But unfortunately this is not a fairy-tale: love, jealousy, pace-makers, secrets, controlling children, drug abuse, the perils of success, corporate greed and a goyyim wife, are some of the things that conspire to sabotage OAPz' efforts. They must battle more than age and prejudice in their attempts to rewrite the rules of hip hop. Their struggle is to win more than a TV talent show, it's a chance to live their lives how they should have done, and teach us the same, before it's too late.


The Creative Team
Written by Gabriel Kemlo, a Cambridge-educated Anglo-Indian who has written for newspapers and magazines, as well as films, short stories, poetry and continues to volunteer with the elderly.
Music by Richard Hale, who created 'Scratched Out: The Urban Musical', Riverside Studios ('The future of musical theatre' musicaltalk.co.uk)
Director Sam Brown
Cast: Jean Boht from 'Bread'
 Cedric Duncan as Earl
 Penelope Granycome from 'Greenwing' as Dr Pasek
Sharnaa 'Sloozie' Longville as Kelis ( HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cx-kDtM38uk" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cx-kDtM38uk)