The Wharf Revue: Good Night and Good Luck.
By Jonathan Biggins, Drew Forsythe and Phillip Scott, co-directed by
Jonathan Biggins and Drew Forsythe. Musical director, Phillip Scott.
Sydney Theatre Company at Canberra Theatre Centre Playhouse December 1 – 19, 2020.
Reviewed by Frank McKone
December 1
CAST
Jonathan Biggins, Mandy Bishop, Drew Forsythe, Phillip Scott. Guest appearance by Lena Cruz.
DESIGNERS
Charles
Davis – Designer; Matt Cox – Lighting; Nate Edmondson – Sound; Todd
Decker – Video; Susie Henderson – Video Systems and Content.
Margaret Aston – Wigs; Scott Fisher – Costumes; Andrew Worboys – Music Tracks.
Rehearsal Photographer – Prudence Upton.
The End Of The Wharf As We Know It
was how it all began in the year 2000. The truth has finally caught up
with the satire as the Sydney Theatre Company has now refurbished their
original theatre Wharf 4/5, Walsh Bay, to open in 2021. Now it really
is Good Night and Good Luck. Yet with sound Shakespearian internal
character conflict in mind, like Hamlet, they say “all the refurbishment
works have been designed with a heritage framework”. We will still
walk the long walk out over Sydney Harbour waters, but perhaps the old
wooden cobblestone effect may now become a smoother journey.
So can The Wharf Revue
be refurbished but retain its heritage value? And can we hope to wake
up next year after this year’s terrifically good night to an extension
of our amazingly good luck to have had such sizzling political satire
run for 20 years? I certainly hope so.
Two particularly successful features of this year’s show are precursors of continuing theatrical refurbishment for The Wharf.
The
quality of incisive sharpness in the writing is not constrained (that’s
the heritage) but the warmth of feeling, of horror, of empathy for New
York under Covid attack with no presidential protection was a new
sensation, crossing the line and back again from satire to tragedy.
Then,
throughout the whole show, the technical quality, originality of
content, as well as satirical precision in the actors’ performances in
the video designs and presentations, though a continuation of this
developing heritage from previous years, was a leap forward this year
for womankind especially. Amanda Bishop “first impersonated Julia
Gillard as part of Waiting for Garnaut, the 2008 Wharf Revue” (Wikipedia), which I remember well, but her range on stage and screen in Good Night and Good Luck 12 years later is quite remarkable, in conjunction with Lena Cruz.
For this the video and selection of material work of Susie Henderson must receive the highest commendation.
The
titles of the 17 items also show their heritage and update values.
“When We Get Back To Normal” shows these very authors right now in
lockdown, absolutely bored, waiting for people to appear in the
auditorium. Ooops! They’re here!
Remember The Seekers? Amanda
Bishop goes down a treat as Judith Durham: will they ever find another
job? “Norman Swan” is our hero: the medicine we all so sorely need.
“How did you get here?” says one Virus to another; “On a cruise ship.”
How else?
Democracy is the “People’s Choice”. Solos by Putin,
Bolsonaro and the very weird Elton Jong with his highly informative
history of the Jong Il family make unAustralian dictatorships very
funny. Australia gets what it deserves in “Koala”; “K Rudd” (a
wonderful reprise by Drew Forsythe in Kevin’s reincarnation as Murdoch
critic); the Liberal “Fawlty Towers”, leavened by “The Pauline Doctrine”
and contrasted with the Labor “Cats in the Ranks”. Aotearoa’s “Jacinda
Ardern” is heavenly perfection in comparison, while “The Sounds of
Sirens” in New York are all that we hear in the silence. A little light
relief is provided by the New South Wales premier “Gladys”, taking us
off to the wild west of the Donald – “The Man who shot Liberty”.
What a way to end!
If
there’s anything we need more than hope this year, it’s laughter. I
hope there will be more in the future. I’m sure there will be more to
laugh at, and I just wish The Wharf Revue could go on forever.
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| The Wharf Revue in rehearsal by Prudence Upton L to R: Phillip Scott, Mandy Bishop, Jonathan Biggins, Drew Forsythe |
© Frank McKone, Canberra
