Meet Sydney's new Johnny Rotten. Her hair is white, her shoes are sensible and she doesn't mind a purple scarf.
After an impressive audition, in which the actress belted out the lyrics to God Save The Queen by the Sex Pistols like a hardened punk rocker, Jill McKay won the role of lead singer in a band formed as part of the Biennale of Sydney.
When she arrived at the auditions, McKay admitted she didn't quite meet the 80-plus age limit. "But I'll never see 70 again," she said.
The project is the brainchild of the Swiss artist Christoph Buchel, who wanted his artwork to be a performance with four octogenarians playing the same instruments and arrangements as the 1970s Brit punk rockers in a gallery at the Museum of Contemporary Art for the Biennale, which starts next Wednesday.
None of the senior idols who auditioned was familiar with the song that was released by the band to coincide with the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977. Originally titled No Future, the lyrics include, "God save the Queen/She ain't no human being/There is no future in England's dreaming".
After listening to the song, which was banned by the BBC, Wilga Leone declared: "It's not very politically correct." She scored the role of bass player, joining Viola Read on electric guitar and Joan Kersey on drums. None had played these instruments before.
The artistic director of the Biennale, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, said the work questioned stereotypes about youth and old age. "It also reminds us that there are so many incredibly dynamic and active people in preceding generations. They are younger than a lot of young people," she said.
Despite the original band's reputation for causing mayhem when they performed, the artistic director said she wasn't worried about the new band members behaving badly.
"We have very good guards and we do not expect that they will trash any of the galleries … They can have punkish behaviour outside the museum."
- By Emily Dunn and Elicia Murray for Sydney Morning Herald.