The Cars That Ate Paris

text by Douglas Horton after Peter Weir
music ensemble devised
Instrumentation sop., bar., ten., 2 actors, acrobat, pf., sampler, elec. vln., environmental perc.
First performed in a large crash repair garage in Melbourne, The Cars that Ate Paris involved performer and musician as composer, utilising the improvisation skills of singers and instrumentalists to create vocal lines and accompaniment.
Based on Australian writer/director Peter Weir's film of the same name, this macabre story is set in the small rural town of Paris where the inhabitants live off the proceeds of staged road accidents. As Arthur, the survivor of one such accident, overcomes his phobia of cars, we learn the gruesome truth of this gothic outback township.
"An imaginative and visually arresting piece of music theatre..." The Age
World Premiere Ensign Smash Repairs, Collingwood Melbourne, July 1992. Directed by Douglas Horton, designed by Jacqui Everitt, Lighting design by Phil Lethlean.