WA Premieres of Xanadu and Clinchfield at WAAPA

During March 2012, the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts presents the WA premieres of light-hearted roller-skating Broadway musical Xanadu, and a new award winning drama by Caleb Lewis about the execution of a circus elephant which killed its trainer.

WAAPA presents the Broadway musical adventure Xanadu, opening in Perth on March 17 at Edith Cowan University, Mount Lawley.

The musical is based on the cult classic 1980s musical fantasy film, famously starring Olivia Newton-John. The story focuses on a Greek muse, Clio, who descends from Mt. Olympus to Venice Beach, California on a quest to inspire a struggling artist, Sonny, to achieve the greatest creation of his life – a roller disco. But, when Clio, disguised as an Australian roller girl named Kira, falls into forbidden love with the mortal Sonny, her jealous sisters take advantage of the situation, and Clio risks eternal banishment to the underworld.

The roller skating musical adventure about following your dreams despite the limitations others set for you, rolls along to the original score composed by Jeff Lynne and John Farrar, and includes, “Magic”, “Party All Over the World”, “Suddenly”, “I’m Alive” and “XANADU”.

Crispin Taylor, the Director behind WAAPA’s last two sold-out mid-year musicals, Anything Goes and Crazy For You, will ensure Xanadu becomes onstage gold and Jenny Lynnd will head up Choreography.

Xanadu

Sat 17, Mon 19, Tues 20, Wed 21, Thurs 22, Fri 23, Sat 24 March, 7.30pm. Matinee Sat 24 March, 2pm

The Geoff Gibbs Theatre, ECU Mount Lawley

WAAPA, Sally Burton and Onward Productions present the Western Australian premiere of Clinchfield, winner of the inaugural Richard Burton Award for New Plays in 2010, from March 16. Written Australian playwright Caleb Lewis, Clinchfield takes the bizarre but true story of the 1916 hanging in a small town in America's south of 'Murderous Mary', a circus elephant that killed its trainer, to explore issues of justice, retribution, racism and values in society. In doing so, the play also resonates with a contemporary world tackling intractable issues like terrorism.

Director Andrew Lewis sees the play as a story about the human condition. “The elephant, whilst real, also represents the many prejudices, resentments and secrets that are held by the population. The community of Erwin is really just a microcosm of the greater world.”

In researching the story Caleb Lewis was interested in the function of punishment and its necessity in civilised society. “At a time when ‘spectacle’ executions in the U.S. drew crowds of up to twenty thousand I am fascinated by the convergence of Justice and Theatre and the tension between restitution, retribution and entertainment.

“It’s interesting that the elephant killed its trainer, ‘Red’ Eldridge, on September 12 and was hanged on September 13. But the trainer was hired by the circus on September 11, 1916. “So, I don’t need to spell out the parallels there, they are pretty clear in terms of a massive response to an original inciting incident,” says Lewis.

“We live in a fairly chaotic, at times anarchic, world, and narrative is a way of dosing ourselves against that, a way of telling ourselves that there is a purpose behind it, that there is meaning in what we experience. “And I think that when something like September 11 comes along that is such a chaotic event, we need to act in some way. I’m not talking about the ethics or morality of the response, I’m talking about the psychology of it in a way that makes us feel that things have been put right again.”

Clinchfield

Fri 16, Sat 17, Mon 19, Tues 20, Wed 21, Thurs 22 March, 7.30pm. Matinee Sat 17 Marc, 2pm

Roundhouse Theatre, ECU Mount Lawley.

Bookings for both productions through WAAPA Box Office (08) 9370 6895 or online at waapa.ecu.edu.au