June 2025
Gilbert Okany puts questions to Dupri McKoy who starred in the musical production The Endz
What is the Endz about? The Endz is a musical about two friends called Reece and Imani. Imani is from a supportive family but Reece has a difficult home and he gets involved in a gang. The story is about their friendship and how it goes wrong. Imani tries to help Reece but ends up getting attacked by the gang. The ending of the piece is about how difficult life can be for young black men and about breaking the cycle of violence. The piece was inspired by our own real life stories, and Malcolm Mide Madariola, who had been at our school and knew several of us, died in a knife incident a few years before. It really meant a lot to us to create a musical about this story.
How many people are in the production? There were around 10 young people aged from 14 to 18 who were involved in writing the story and music. I was one of the solo singers, as well as Christina Onabanjo and Flame Rhoden. There were also rappers Moustapha Doumbia and Toni Olabanji. Then we had composer Kate Whitley, writer Abi Falase, songwriters Abimaro Gunnell and Fran Lobo, involved in creating the piece. In the final performances we had a choir of around 60 young people joining, and an orchestra of around 30 musicians.
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