There’s no doubting the enormity of Elvis’ legacy. On May 26 2013, Sir Paul McCartney visited Graceland, left a guitar pick on Elvis’ grave and said, “..so Elvis can play in heaven”.
Since Graceland opened to the public on June 7 1982, it is visited by 600,000 fans per year, most making the trip with a quasi-religious perspective.
Ellen Byron’s two related one act plays, GRACELAND and ASLEEP ON THE WIND, presented by Operating Theatre, draw on the power of the Elvis legend and how it affected people’s lives.
We are taken back in time in the first act, GRACELAND, to June 4, 1982. It is 5am and two women arrive separately to camp out 3 days early and be the first to cross the spiritual gates. Middle aged, bewigged, assertive and organised Bev (played with great humour and control by Michelle Collins) sets up her gear thinking she’ll be first in. Young naïve Rootie (played by Persia Blue with wonderful vulnerability and passion), complete with loud makeup, girlish hairstyle and tiny size 6 frame, arrives with simply a pillow and paper bag full of hard boiled eggs. Wary of each other, they begin to compete for first entry. They appropriately use an Elvis trivia quiz as part of their dominance game.
These two competent actresses, complete with both very funny and sad dialogue, are compelling to watch as their characters forge an unlikely friendship by the end of Act One. It is a beautiful insight into the type of obsession that these characters need to create and maintain. Perhaps it comes from the emptiness and emotional need that people feel sometimes. Bev admits that she daydreams about Elvis whilst listening to her husband and making love to him.
Excellent direction by Jo-Anne Cahill brings out the powerful emotion and underlying sadness behind this script.
Act Two, ASLEEP ON THE WIND, goes back 10 years before the events of Act One, to the parting of Rootie and her brother Beau (played by Leigh Scully with fond cheekiness and contagious energy).
In Act One, Rootie talks about Beau’s death and their “special place” – a small clearing in Bayou Teche, Louisiana, where we find ourselves in Act Two. The two siblings find solace here away from their two reckless brothers. Beau, a restless, handsome young man of 30, and devotee of Elvis, adored by his shy, reclusive sister, has a double purpose in their meeting – to persuade Rootie to stay in school and to tell her about the wonderful tropical place, full of palm trees, called Vietnam. When he tells her he’s leaving tomorrow, she can’t bear to part from him.
The physical and playful nature of their relationship, in all its innocence, is finely choreographed by director, Cahill. What also makes this scene so enchanting are the accents that the actors have mastered, Louisiana Bayou. The script is reminiscent of Tennessee Williams, the closeness of brother and sister in the tragic loneliness of a small town.
The set and lighting by Tom Bannerman and Jocelyn Speight are simple and effective.
I do hope that this production of GRACELAND and ASLEEP ON THE WIND makes its return to the stage some time soon. It’s uplifting and well worth a visit.
Operating Theatre’s production of GRACELAND and ASLEEP ON THE WIND played together at the Sidetrack Theatre, 142 Addison Road, Marrickville between 5 and 16 June, 2013.
