An Hilarious Night With Dame Edna

We braved the rain and cold on Friday to go and see Barry Humphrey’s farewell show and it was hilarious.

20120729-162556.jpg

In the first half of the show, Sir Les Patterson engaged a couple from the audience to help him cook a BBQ on stage in his ‘back yard’. In the process, he managed to use a long list of irreverent ‘one liners’ to make fun of virtually every ethnic and cultural group that exists – especially Gays, Asians, Italians, Catholics, and Mexicans. He referred to Julia Gillard As ‘Fanta Pants’. This all occurred in between violent sessions in his backyard dunny as he ‘suffered’ from the affects of Montezuma’s Revenge that he picked up in a recent trip to Mexico.

20120729-163156.jpg

Second, Barry Humphrey’s character Sandy Stone, gave a detailed view of his life in Glen Iris and the surrounding streets and parks. He was most upset that his wife had experienced a terrible time in a nursing home. He just seemed to nail the popular impressions of aged care when he said that the standard form of entertainment was to wheel the inmates of the home into the recreation room, sit them around the walls facing the centre to watch a large screen TV with the sound turned off. He reported that at one time, his wife had a bad fall and was lying on the floor in agony. He was sure that someone on the staff would have helped her up, if only that task had been in their job descriptions.

20120729-163704.jpg

After intermission, the inimitable Dame Edna appeared, riding on an elephant and then proceeded to take the Mickey out of various audience members in her one person act that continued for almost an hour. She stated that she was retiring and had enjoyed a very full life. In a little repartee with one woman in the audience, she asked her if she had any regrets in her own life – other than going to the hairdresser who had done her hair! She asked another woman about her home to find out that she lived in a 1950’s style house in Hawthorn. Dame Edna’s reply was that ‘something nice must have been demolished in order for that house to have been built’!

20120729-165051.jpg

In a final apearance, after Dame Edna had thrown her gladiolis to the audience, Barry Humphries appeared on stage to thank the audience for coming to the theatre and hoped that we would all come again to his next final show. Was this a hint that we should have some hope yet that Dame Edna will live on a little longer?

Bruce

Bruce is a keen traveller and photographer. This web site describes his travel and family interests

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Every Day Life

We’ve Had a Very Active Four-Day Weekend

Today is Melbourne Cup Day on which the ‘Race That Stops a Nation’ is run. This horse race is always held on the first Tuesday in November and is a public holiday. Many people here take the Monday off work as well  to make a four day weekend. Our weekend actually began last Friday when […]

Read More
Every Day Life

A Visit to Pentridge Prison’s Hell Hole – H Division

During the week, I spent a morning doing a tour of H Division within the old Pentridge Prison in Coburg.  Pentridge Prison was a notorious correctional facility located in Coburg, Melbourne, Australia. It operated from 1851 to 1997. Originally built as a stockade for prisoners during the Victorian gold rush, it later evolved into a […]

Read More
Every Day Life

My Fifty-Five Year Anniversary

Today, July 17, is quite a momentous anniversary for me. It’s fifty five years since I was required to report for National Service training and become a soldier in the Australian Army. I don’t know where those fifty five years have gone. Perhaps getting married, having children, raising a family, developing a career, working hard […]

Read More