Plainsong

PLAINSONG is a spectacular and epic contemporary staging of one of the oldest plays in the English language. Telling stories of the Old and New Testaments, the Miracle Plays wrenched the drama of the Christian faith out of the hands of the clergy and gave it up to ordinary working people. Performed in the streets, gates, and great halls of their towns, a community gathered and shared in a spectacular event that combined drama, comedy, horror, music and ritual.

Black Swan's PLAINSONG attempts to create such a shared experience that, like its medieval antecedent, is both ancient and modern, timeless and contemporary, local and universal. Commencing with bread, wine and olive oil in Winthrop Hall, the audiences follow the action around various locations in the grounds of The University of Western Australia.

Actors, singers and musicians join with the audience to share David Britton's very Australian reworking of these funny and furious plays, with the constant transporting accompaniment of an original score by Western Australia's foremost young composer Iain Grandage. PLAINSONG combines liturgy and ritual within a sequence of twentieth century theatrical styles to take its audience on a journey through this extraordinary century from Creation to Doomsday.

Preview 2 February 7.30pm

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