ELVIS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING
A multi-generational show that celebrates dressing up, costumes, wigs and uses the phenomenon of the ultimate celebrity impersonator as a vehicle to look at the shifting identities young people experience through life. Exploring our roles in society, with our families, friends, communities and asking the most important question - what is it that makes us who we are?
A comic, poignant and necessary exploration of life, loss and selfhood in our young people today.
A cast of 8 - 14 year olds transform before our eyes as an Elvis impersonator asks them questions about life and death, love and loss, memories and hopes for the future.
The responses to the questions they act out on stage using the costumes and props that surround them as Elvis underscores/overscores the action live with his songs. Scenes of hilarity and heartbreak ensue in equal measure as they try to figure out how to share with an audience who they are, who they were and who they want to be.
As Elvis grows slowly older over the course of the show the roles reverse and the young cast support him with his inevitable decline.
Perhaps there’s time for one last song and dance.
Elvis Has Left The Building is designed as a flexible, mid-scale touring production. The use of props and costumes on stage is a strong aesthetic that is technically adaptable to various studio and main-house spaces. It is also a show that can tour relatively simply - following a slow touring model of engaging young people in each community, and sourcing props and costumes from second hand/sustainable sources.
CONCEPT/CHOREOGRAPHER: JEN MALARKEY
ELVIS: CARL HARRISON