As part of the UK/Australia Season 21-22 Luke Styles and Hilary Bell will be presenting a work-in-progress showing of their new work, Marrickville Mermaid, at Stapleford Granary UK.

International film star, queen of vaudeville, champion swimmer, pioneering health & fitness guru, trail-blazing entrepreneur, female action hero, Hollywood’s highest-earning actor…

Annette Kellerman (1887-1975) was an expert manipulator of the media and creator of her own mythology. She caused sensation from her home in Sydney to the world stage, yet she has been virtually erased from history. Marrickville Mermaid restores her to her rightful place via a highly original work of music theatre. It is a vehicle for a star performer whose range runs from cabaret to classical.

The work will be comprised of twelve songs that draw on the traditions of Brecht/Weill (The Threepenny Opera), Stravinsky (Soldier’s Tale), Schoenberg (Pierrot Lunaire) and the music hall traditions of which Kellerman was a part, transformed into Luke’s compositional voice. It will be composed to work equally well for piano and voice, as for a more fully orchestrated version for six instruments, chamber or full symphony orchestra, to fit the performing context.

Rather than a biography, the work will dive into the remarkable moments of Kellerman’s life, while also reflecting on the complexities of her inner world, and the tensions inherent in being a woman who defied every kind of expectation. Theatrically, it will harness the song cycle form with the rich physical and visual potential of her various lives – vaudeville, underwater ballet, silent film, athletics. The show is a playground in which to explore such contemporary themes as gender identity, constructed exoticism, loss and aging, and the manipulation of the media.

The work-in-progress event will include performances of 4 songs from the work by Jessica Walker and Joe Atkins and a presentation by Luke and Hilary about Annette Kellerman and the development of Marrickville Mermaid.

BOOKING - this will be an exclusive event with limited tickets. Email marrickvillemermaid@gmail.com to reserve a free place at this event.