The Endz: from the streets to the stage, via a car park

Remarkably this award-winning powerful modern-day story of friendship triumphing over heartbreak and loss, which comes to our Queen Elizabeth Hall in September, began life as a school project in Peckham’s Harris Academy.

So what exactly is The Endz? Well, let’s let Moustapha Doumbia, one of the principal realtors of the piece, answer that. ‘The Endz is a mix of orchestral music with rap, spoken word, and theatre. This developed from [Harris Academy’s] last show which didn’t have theatre, so adding the theatreelement  really made the show feel connected to the audience. The Endz attracted a lot of attention, particularly from people who live in Peckham, they really resonated with the message that came from it’.

But where did it come from? For that we need to go back to 2018, and a cult three-part YouTube series by Rapman called Shrio’s Story. Filmed guerilla story on a minimal budget, this glamourless film of betrayal, love and London gang rivalry is narrated through the medium of rap, and features a number of up and coming London musicians and rappers. 

The series struck a chord with the students of Harris Academy, as Dupri, one of the original cast members of The Endz explains. ‘We decided to create our own story during a year nine music lesson,’ explained Dupri, ‘it was all hands on board to work on a project inspired by one of our favourite artists and also something that was very different from what was in the curriculum’. 

However, tragedy struck at this time, with the fatal stabbing of former Harris Academy student Malcolm Mide-Madariola who was killed whilst trying to stand up for a friend in a knife fight. But it was an event that only served to galvanise the students. ‘In honour of Malcolm we decided to dedicate this piece to him, and used his story as inspiration to further develop the piece. We’d all had different ideas about how the story should unfold, and so it was interesting to see how we were able to come together to create a cohesive story’.

That resultant story is one that had its roots in personal experiences for the students growing up in South London, that extended beyond the tragic death of Mide-Madariola. As Dupri details ‘our story was about a friendship that separates two girls after one joins a gang. We wanted to tell a story that was relevant and relatable to our own experiences, and it was interesting to challenge the stereotype that only boys are in gangs.

As for the music? ‘That was rooted in real emotions and experiences from the students involved in the project, which made it even more special. We all poured our hearts into the music, and it was amazing to see how it all came together’. As Doumbia enforces, ‘a lot of hard work went into The Endz, and a ton of support came from the community in Peckham and the creative process with The Multi-Story Orchestra’s Young Creatives’.

‘It has been amazing seeing the evolution of this project and being a part of it is a very special feeling’

Dupri, one of The Endz original cast members

The connection with fellow Peckham residents The Multi-Story Orchestra took The Endz on another journey; helping the students hone the production into a piece which was performed with the orchestra at their Bold Tendencies base, a multi-story car-park in the heart of Peckham. 

‘The Endz has had so many adventures’, says Dupri, ‘from being a straight musical to becoming a play. We’ve had the Multi-Story Orchestra help bring it to the forefront and performed it at Bold Tendencies. It’s been amazing to see how our story evolved from a simple idea to a full-fledged production that we were all proud of’. And that effort hasn’t gone unnoticed, as Doumbia reflects. ‘It sold out every performance and garnered a lot of attention from the media. It was a feature in The Times and they even had a segment of us practising the show on ITV’.

And those adventures and accolades keep coming for this original and personal production. Earlier this year The Endz won The Impact Award at the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards, and now this powerful piece of Peckham comes here to our Queen Elizabeth Hall as its adventures continue.