Kate Kelly Project: the music-theatre event
The Kate Kelly Project (KKP) was initiated in 2007 by writer Merrill Findlay, NZ composer Ross Carey and project partners, as a community-based music-theatre endeavour to be complete in six stages as funding and community support permits.
 Writer Merrill Findlay and composer Ross Carey at Forbes Lagoon near where Kate Kelly's body was recovered on 14 October 1898, eight days after she was reported missing. Photo by Kerry Neaylon, 21 June 2008.
Introduction
Catherine 'Ada' Foster, also known as Kate. Daughter of Ellen and John, sister of bushranger Ned, wife of 'Bricky' Foster, and mother of four, whose decomposing body was found floating in the Forbes lagoon in October 1898. A battler, a legend, a working class warrior haunted by too many ghosts, some of whom will re-emerge in this drama as the people of Forbes raise Kate Kelly from the dead ...
A music-theatre event in 6 stages
Stage 1: research phase (Feb-November 2008) will be completed on publication of the research in a literary journal in 2009. More >>
Stage 2: a song cycle, script treatment and community consultation
This stage has now receive substantial funding from the Australian Government through the Regional Arts Fund. More >>
Stage 3: script development
Stage 4: music research and completion of final score
Stage 5: production work, community involvement, participant workshops, rehearsals, promotion and merchandising
Stage 6: public performances and possible tours. More >>
KKP Stage 1: the research phase
Time frame: February-December 2008
Tasks: Documentary research and folklore interviews on KK’s life and death, for an essay to be used in the development of the script, lyrics and music for the music-theatre event (see Stages 2-6).
The essay will fill some of the many gaps in our knowledge about Kate's life and death in Forbes. All interviewees and other contributors, project partners and sponsors will be fully acknowledged, and research material will eventually be available through the Forbes Museum.
Participants: writer Merrill Findlay and community contributors/ interviewees, in consultation with composer Ross Carey.
Funding: First grant received for KKP (2007)
August 2007: The Royal Australian Historical Society, through its 2007 Local History Research and Publication Program, awarded the Forbes Historical Society a small grant for Stage I of the Kate Kelly Project to enable writer Merrill Findlay to undertake further documentary research on Kate's life in and around Forbes and her death in the Forbes lagoon. Our thanks to the RAHS for this support. Merrill acknowledged her appreciation of this support in her presentation to the 2008 RAHS annual conference in Forbes on 19 October. More >>
KKP Stage 2: Script treatment, song cycle & community consultation
Timeframe: February-December 2009
The Tasks:
1) To complete a song cycle based on six poems relating to Kate Kelly's life and death in Forbes. Music and lyrics will draw on Wiradjuri, Anglo-Celtic, Cantonese, Continental European, South Asian, Afghan and other traditions to honour the cultural diversity of central western NSW in the 1880s and '90s.
2) To complete a 2000 word script treatment based on Stage I research, in consultation with an established dramaturg.
3) To undertake further consultation with community groups and institutions.
A number of related interventions, including the revegetation of the lagoon foreshore and creek near where Kate Kelly's body was recovered and efforts to save Quong Lee's store, will continue throughout 2009.
Participants: Composer Ross Carey and writer Merrill Findlay, with project partners. (We're still looking for a dramaturg and will advertise this position in early 2009.)
Research associate Kerry Neaylon, Forbes Urban Landcare Group, Forbes Shire Council and other project partners will continue their own KKP-related endeavours throughout 2009.
 Funding: This stage of the Kate Kelly Project music-theatre event is financed through the Regional Arts Fund, an Australian Government initiative supporting the arts in regional and remote Australia. The Kate Kelly Project gratefully acknowledges this assistance.
Read the RAF press release: Regional Arts Fund delivers 22 major new projects in regional NSW >>
The KKP live event
The first performance of Saving Kate Kelly (working title only) is expected to take place in and around the lagoon in which Kate drowned and may be followed by a community 'corroboree', bush dance and ‘sacred fire’ under the stars. The production may then tour Victoria’s Kelly Country and possibly even travel to Ireland to link Forbes with other points on the Kelly Songline, and China.
The music-theatre event is expected to include 3-5 professional singers, around the same number of professional musicians, hundreds of local performers, as many horses as possible, several piglets and a couple of camels.
Project partners
Project partners currently include Mitchell Conservatorium of Music, Forbes Shire Council, Forbes & District Historical Society and Museum, Forbes Arts & Culture Working Group, NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group (Forbes Branch), On The Stone, Forbes Urban Landcare Inc, and the Royal Australian Historical Society.
Page created 18 July 2007, and last revised 19 December 2008 |
