Oi Taylor Swift, Let These Aussie Theatre Legends Use ‘Shake It Off’ In Their Play

By Mitch Feltscheer

UPDATE 4/08/2015 4.30pm AEST: Magnanimous and benevolent queen of the universe Taylor Swift has humbly decreed that Belvoir Theatre Company has permission to use Shake It Off in their production of Seventeen, premiering tomorrow night. The supreme ruler of us all tweeted just now that “Permission granted, @BelvoirSt. Good luck with your opening night :)”

AND ALL WAS WELL IN THE LAND! Thank you oh wise and caring one.

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ORIGINAL ARTICLE: One of Australia’s most beloved theatre companies, Belvoir Street Theatre in Sydney’s Surry Hills, has hit a bit of a hurdle in preparations for their upcoming show Seventeen, having just discovered that they have been refused permission to use Taylor Swift’s eternal anthem Shake It Off in the climactic scene, with the premiere mere hours away, and have started an online campaign to grab Swifty’s attention.

Belvoir’s Resident Director Anne-Louise Sarks is hitting Twitter hard today, tweeting at Taylor, a whole mess of her fan accounts and literally anyone else who could possibly get in touch with her Royal Swiftiness, in order to possibly convince her to bend the rules and allow the production to use the hit song.

Belvoir spokesperson Elly Michelle Clough told Music Feeds that “the cast have been rehearsing to Shake It Off for the past four weeks”, whilst the approval was up in the air with APRA and put in a lot of effort with intense choreography, especially for “a group of 70-year-olds with no dance training!”.

The company got the news that permission had been denied (“which could have occurred from any number of points up the chain from record labels to management and so on”) at 5pm last Friday and are now seeking any and all to help to find even “someone who knows someone standing near Taylor Swift who can put a phone in her hand”.

The main-stage play features six of Australia’s theatre veterans, including the legendary Barry Otto, all playing 17-year-olds on their last day of school.

So far Sarks has tweeted the likes of Russell Crowe, former Arts Minister Tony Burke, and CEO of Big Machine Label Group (Taylor’s management) Scott Borchetta, with the hashtag #greygrey4taytay, seeking assistance in grabbing the eyes of the Pop queen.

Although some may say it’s a tall order to get the attention of the world’s biggest pop star, Tay Tay is known for solving the world’s problems via her online accounts, such as, oh I dunno, single-handedly convincing Apple to alter their business model that one time with a single Tumblr post.

As of now Taylor is yet to respond to the flurry of tweet activity, fingers crossed she takes notice and waves her magic Swift wand to make all right in the world once more. Get involved and tweet at Taylor here, and help make some theatre magic.

For more info and tickets for Seventeen, which officially opens tomorrow night, head to the Belvoir website.

Watch: Belvoir’s Cast of Seventeen – On Growing Up

Mitch Feltscheer
Mitch Feltscheer

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