Melody Loses Her Mojo @ Contact, Manchester, 1-5 Oct

Hip-hop, beatboxing, slam poetry and puppetry are at the heart of a brand new drama about the lives of young people in care. The latest touring production from Liverpool-based young people's theatre company 20 Stories High, Melody Loses Her Mojo, written and directed by the company’s artistic director Keith Saha, combines all their trademarks for a show that lives up to its promise of being “full of surprises.”

“Our ethos is everybody’s got a story to tell and their own way of telling it,” says Saha of 20 Stories High. “Melody Loses Her Mojo is inspired by real stories about real people. It’s challenging stuff and it goes to quite difficult places. It’s a journey from childhood to adulthood.”

The play is inspired by Saha's own experiences, as well as those of some of the company’s young actors. Melody – a striking performance from Remmie Milner – has been separated from her little sister Harmony, but keeps the younger girl’s toy monster, Mojo, as a reminder to keep her on the straight and narrow and that they will one day be together again (which is where the puppetry comes in; Milner interacts with the toy, like a conscience). “When I’m feeling down he helps me lay off the Bacardi Breezers,” she says of her Mojo. “Just watch a DVD with a box of Malteasers.”

But when new girl Blessing (Simone James) arrives from Nigeria and tries to steal her best mate, Rizla (Darren Kuppan), Melody’s demons begin to take over her Mojo with serious consequences.

The story is enhanced by the involvement of 20 Stories High’s largest creative team to date, which includes puppet director Sue Buckmaster from specialist company Theatre-Rites, choreographer Kwesi Johnson from London-based dance and physical theatre group Kompany Malakhi, club art from visual artist Mark Wigan, cellist Hannah Marshall, and international beatboxing champion Hobbit.

The company has always incorporated a love of hip-hop in its work and promotes the positive side of it – lyricism, dance and music, and social awareness – while challenging the idea of a showy, intolerant bling culture. [Vicky Anderson]