Ned Kelly Musical for Adelaide Fringe
Adelaide’s Upstage Theatre brings the story of Australia’s most infamous bushranger Ned Kelly to life in its 2016 Adelaide Fringe show The Legend of Ned Kelly. It’s a musical that focuses on a period steeped in folklore, the Kelly Gang’s last days. Lesley Reed reports.
It’s impossible to imagine the fear in the hearts of wealthy 1880’s Victorian land owners and bankers when they were confronted by the Kelly Gang’s dreaded cry, “Bail up!” This gang was a legend even in its own time and the almost mythical aura surrounding the outlaw group’s leader has settled deeper into Australian folklore over the hundred years and more since those times. Ned Kelly has always polarized opinion; he is both revered and reviled.
Movies, books, plays and academic papers have portrayed Edward (Ned) Kelly as either villain or hero and sometimes both. Now, local company, Upstage Theatre is to present this timeless story of colonial Australia at the 2016 Adelaide Fringe, with its musical The Legend of Ned Kelly. It’s the company’s own interpretation of the Kelly Gang’s last days; the period leading up to the fateful shootout at the Glenrowan Inn. As most Australians know, it was a time that culminated in the burning of the Inn, the arrest of Ned Kelly and finally, his controversial punishment, death by hanging.
It started as a simple story of four young free-settlers who considered themselves downtrodden by authority. It ended when their leader wrote himself into Australian folklore by donning a homemade suit of armour and standing his ground against overwhelming odds in a place called Glenrowan.
Beyond the armour was a man both ruthless and gentle, rugged and kind; an Irish-Australian battler turned bushranger, fiercely independent and perhaps pushed into action by the repressive colonial authorities of the time.
“Once again, putting pen to paper and after many hours of research on the life of our most iconic folklore figure Ned Kelly, I am able to use Upstage Theatre as the vessel to portray this most important Australian story,” says the play’s writer Deirdre Quinn. “I have used the same formula, with music and lyrics by Tony Strutton and Sue Oldknow, as we used with outstanding success for Jack the Ripper in 2013.”
The Legend of Ned Kelly is directed by John Martin. “Where do you start?” he asks. “Well, that’s how I felt when I was asked to direct this show. First we needed to get together a cast worthy of the story and who could portray each character to the fullest, and I must say that has been a task on its own, but I now believe we have done just that and my cast will do the story justice.”
John is enthusiastic about Deidre Quinn’s script. “I knew after reading the first page that we had a script worthy of the Legend of Ned Kelly,” he says. “I knew that from directing Deirdre’s previous critically acclaimed show Jack the Ripper (2013 Adelaide Fringe) that we were in for a treat and this production of Ned certainly lives up to this. With sixteen original songs opening up with the rousing song of ‘The Declaration’ followed by ‘Ma Kelly’s Lament’ and then to the lively ‘Dancing Feet’, the audience are taken on a rollercoaster ride of emotions throughout the show”.
The cast includes Paul McLean as Ned Kelly, Tim Victory as Joe Byrne, Victory’s twelve-year-old daughter Adele as Gracie Kelly and fifteen-year-old singer/musician Aden Quinn as Dan Kelly. Other cast members include Brady Gambling, Kirsty Battersby, Samara Jaensch, Sue Oldknow, Paul Trueack and Stephen Popowski. The show’s writer Deidre Quinn and director John Martin also have acting roles.
The experienced offstage contributors include musical director Tony Strutton, lyricist Sue Oldknow, Caetlyn McLean (sound), Mon Cochrane (lighting) and Vi Rowe (costumes and wigs), amongst many others.
Director John Martin voices questions that may have been pondered by many Australians over the years: “If Ned had been allowed to live,” he says, “what could he have brought to our young nation? If he had lived, could he have made a fine politician? With his intelligence, his oratory skills and charismatic leadership. Given a chance, would he have made a national leader on the right side of the law? Edward Kelly was not born bad. Maybe in today’s world he could have made some right and good choices. Yes, he made some wrong choices in his short life, and so we ask the question was Ned a bad man or a good man? He certainly was a voice for the poor farmers of North-Eastern Victoria.”
Long after the real events occurred in the 1880’s and telling the story through tall tales and true as well as song and dance, Upstage Theatre brings Australia’s most well-known, controversial and enduring saga to Adelaide Fringe audiences; The Legend of Ned Kelly.
Was Ned Kelly a hero or a villain? You be the judge.
When: Sunday 21st February, Saturday 27th February, Saturday 5th March, 7.30 pm.
Where: The Irish Club-Main Hall, 13-15 Carrington Street, Adelaide.
Tickets: A $28, C $23.
Bookings: www.adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix
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