Alibi (or Someplace Else)
a play about my life right now by the pop artist Willing
Stars in his eyes, a derelict ageing twink moves to London on a theatrical whim. Chaos ensues, his life becoming an intoxicating vortex of sex, drugs and deceit.
His gateway to this treacherous world is the mysterious PC, an international man of mystery, a money launderer and a fraud. He promises fame but delivers breakdown.
Meanwhile the people are revolting, on a scale we’ve never witnessed before, and it is his relationship with Nick, the young revolutionary, that just might save him.
ALIBI (OR SOMEPLACE ELSE) is a play for a society in crisis. His most confessional piece, it is also Willing’s most dishonest, for the central concern is the magnetism of the theatrical lie in a world that is done with truth.
But at its heart this is a love story. A queer romance that swings from violence to tenderness in moments, dealing with issues of addiction, punishment and ultimately the radical act of forgiveness.
K E Y C R E A T I V E S
Willing - Text, Songs and Performance
Willing is a queercore recording artist and theatre maker whose sound and steeze is a game of of reconciling oppositions. The theatre and the club. The feminine and the fuckboy. The horny banger and the bruising ballad.
His raison d’être is the pursuit of transient utopias in a constant state of emergency, oscillating wildly between pure romance and utter devastation. In short, he makes gay pop, and sometimes, when it is called for, epic dramas for intimate stages.
Since the release of his debut EP, Small Cruelties, Willing has built a cult following in Melbourne’s queer underground. Described by Subvrt Mag as ‘vibrantly saucy’ he is now, according to Wickedd Childd, ‘getting ready to take over the world’.
Musical achievements include headline spots at Midsumma and Gaytimes Festivals, a finalist spot in the HotVox Isle of Wight Competition in the UK and radio play on BBC 6 Music as well as a bunch of Aussie stations (3RRR, PBS, FBI, 4ZZZ, SYN and JOY).
But he is not just a music man. Past dramatic outings include The Gathering (with Belinda Jenkin), which had seasons at Theatre Works, fortyfivedownstairs and the New York Music Theatre Festival, Gaga V Assange (‘a brilliant musical fantasia’ - The Australian) and ‘Pop | Press’ (**** The Age).
Siena Stone - Direction
Siena is a director and writer working across theatre, photography & film media. In 2015 Siena received her BA honours from Central Saint Martins College of the Arts, Drama Centre London before continuing to live and work abroad as a freelancer in various company attachments in London and New York.
She has also created & performed several cabarets at the Butterfly Club as well as writing & directing a new web-series pilot concept Melbourne Black, in 2014/2015. Her graduate short film entitled Beyond The Surface, showed in a curated selection of shorts at the Whitechapel Gallery, London.
Since then Siena has worked on a number of projects including Motor mouth Loves Suckface an Apocalyptic Love Story 2016 season at Chapel off Chapel & the 2018 VCE playlist season at La Mama Theatre, alongside writer/director Anthony Crowley.
Alexandra McCloud-Gibson- Production and Costume Design
Alexandra is a Melbourne based interdisciplinary designer. Trained traditionally in Fashion Design and with a Masters Degree in Production Design for Screen, her work spans across production design and art direction for film & television, set design & installation.
An interest in the manipulation of tactile materials and an affinity with storytelling through aesthetics motivates Alexandra to invent, source and build, explore narrative and character development and create mood by bringing concept and idea to life whilst fully immersing herself in the world-building of different projects.
Alexandra’s film work has been included in the official selections of film festivals in Sydney, Melbourne, Palm Springs, Cork, Lausanne, Oakland, Brussels and The UK with her installation work being featured in the Melbourne Fashion Festival, multiple music festivals across Australia and gallery settings.’
Tim Bonser - Lighting Design
Tim is a Melbourne and Perth-based lighting designer and recent graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. He has designed the lighting for 'SPANKED' for TA Events (2020), 'Genesis' for the West Australian Ballet (2019), and 'Claire Healy: Truth or Claire' for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (2019). In 2019 Tim completed a secondment with multi-award-winning Lighting Designer Paul Jackson on The Production Company's 'Lazarus'. In 2018 Tim received the WAAPA Outstanding Student in Lighting Award.
2021 will see Tim design the lighting for 'Alibi (or Someplace Else)' at Theatre Works, 'The Measure of a Moment' at La Mama, as well as act as Associate Lighting Designer on Perth Festival's 'City of Lights' and 'Children of the Sea' for acclaimed Lighting Designer Matthew Marshall.
Cosmo Halafov-Renfree - Sound Design
Cosmo is a sound artist and musician working predominantly in the fields of electro-acoustic, techno and ambient music.
Alibi's score is heavily inspired by these sonic worlds, as well as Cosmo's love of science fiction, and performed live on modular synthesizers from within the space.