In November 1994, two young men, Richard Elsey and Jamie Petrolini were sentenced to life imprisonment for the apparently motiveless murder of a taxi driver, Mohammed el-Sayed. In the spring of 1996, English Playwright Chris Goode wrote a play about it. In Weepie, the true story of this apparently inexplicable act of violence is audaciously intertwined with that of St Mary of Oignies, a 12th century French mystic best known for her hysterical weeping. Violence is mostly associated with young men from 'deprived' backgrounds, but Petrolini and Elsey, both nineteen-year-old students, were impeccably upper middle class. The killing destabilised notions of respectability and bewildered public and media alike. 'Weepie' addresses that bewilderment, pulling apart youthful notions of masculinity in a heady mix of absurd ritual, eroticism, magic realism, metaphysics and hard hitting drama. The ingredients of the play are stunning: a 'good looking youth with a classical education'; 'a happy mellow kid' training to kill; a talkshow host out of his depth; a French mystic who picks up radio through her teeth. Weepie is a dynamic and unforgettable play of startling originality and force. This confronting two-hander is the first production by Urban Myth_x0019_ s newly established Senior Ensemble. Proudly sponsored by Poster Impact, the Senior Ensemble are a group of exceptionally talented theatre artists dedicated to bringing South Australian audiences the very best of a new generation.
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