Perth Voice Interactive

A VISIT to a Saigon bar some years ago was the inspiration for The Song Was Wrong, Perth Theatre Company’s latest offering at the State Theatre.

Backdropped by piano music in the atmospheric bar in Vietnam’s French quarter, artistic director Melissa Cantwell was told of a piano player, “who fell in love with a French woman and when she left him he went blind”. “That mythic quality appealed to me,” she purrs.

The epic love story she’s penned spans three generations. She describes it as a tale of hope, memory and redemption, with an evocative, original score by Nick Wales.

“It’s the first script for a while, but I never stopped [writing],” Cantwell says.

“I have been working on this piece for a while—it takes a lot of focus and concentration.

“[The] story of a pianist and the woman he loved and lost, their instant attraction and passionate love affair, the characters they met, the decisions they made and how their lives are entwined forever.”

As in all great love stories there is both ”joy and tragedy”.

Cantwell lured long-time friend Aurelio Costarella—one of Australia’s most respected fashion designers—to come on board.

He adapted pieces from his recent Paris Fashion Week launch for the stage, “which works nicely because [the play] is set in Perth—it’s a nice tie in,” Costarella says, adding his classically modern style is well suited to the characters.

In collaboration with costume designer Fleur Kingsland, Costarella designed other outfits especially for the show: it’s a visual as well as dramatic feast.

The Song Was Wrong stars WAAPA graduates Felix Josephs and Astrid Grant (who’s been working in France with Le Theatre de Soleil for 12 years). Also in the cast are Jacinta Larcombe, George Shetsov, Sarah Nelson and Thomas Papathanassiou. Lighting is by Matthew Marshal and set by Bruce McKinven.

The Song Was Wrong is on at Studio Underground, State Theatre, June 4–20. Tickets at Ticketek.

by JENNY D’ANGER