Australia Day

Australia Day
By Jonathan Biggins. Director: Jonathan Biggins. Christine Harris & Hit Productions. Gardens Theatre, Brisbane. 25-26 June 2015 (Touring Nationally).

Christine Harris’s touring production of Australia Day is explosively funny. A terrific ensemble cast bring Jonathan Biggins’ satirical-swipe at our national day institution gloriously to life. It’s a better production than the one QTC mounted last year, and with the added advantage of having the writer at the helm, tighter and sharper. And thankfully it’s minus those annoyingly choreographed scene changes which were a distraction of the work by QTC.

 

Set when the Liberals were in power under John Howard it would appear to be dated but it’s not. In the small country town of Coriole a disparate group of people gather to organise the festivities for the Australia Day celebrations. Brian, the mayor and would be Canberra senator if he stacks the cards right, doesn’t want to change what they’ve done before. Robert, his councilman offsider is happy to go along, as is “ocker” builder Wally, and Country Women’s Association spokesperson Marie, but Helen, a recently arrived townie and Greenie to boot, has other ideas.

ill the sausage sizzle encompass satays and fried rice to make it more multi-cultural?

Will the local dance group honour indigenous Australians without any aboriginal members in the group?

These and many more time-honoured traditions provide the meat and potatoes of Biggins incisive but affectionate look at our mores. And where does Chester, an Australian-born Vietnamese fit into all of this. It’s a broad canvas and Biggins fills it with laugh upon laugh and even manages to fit in secondary plot strands where Brian, who owns the only hardware store in town, tries to solicit his offsider to vote against allowing Bunnings to set up shop, and some hugely insensitive ripostes from Wally when speaking of the mentally-challenged which have major repercussions.

 

Geoff Kelso imbued Brian with all the self-serving traits of those in local office without being sleazy. David James’s Robert was spot-on. Unambitious and happy to be a second-stringer. James played the part in the original Melbourne and Sydney production so he certainly knows where the laughs are buried. Dennis Coard had a field-day as Wally dropping “F” bombs and calling a spade a spade, while Robyn Arthur’s Marie was a hoot as she tried to understand twitter and facebook and negotiate a walkie-talkie. But the lynchpin in this whole scenario was Sharon Davis as the ball-busting Helen. Outwardly fierce, but inwardly tender, her performance had passion and pathos. Ken Moraleda as Chester, the Australian-born Vietnamese had enormous fun sending-up Asian stereotypes and looked appropriately daggy in his Australian flag shirt.

Set, costumes, lighting and sound complimented the action, the use of answering-machine messages voiced by Robyn Arthur during the scene changes added giggles, and pre-show, interval and post-show music, which included “Our Don Bradman”, “Waltzing Matilda” and “Gundagai” were a delightfully tongue-in-cheek salute to our Aussie culture.

 

I’ve no doubt regional audiences will embrace this satiric bit of nonsense with open arms. Bravo Christine Harris and Hit Productions for a fun night in the theatre.

Peter Pinne    

 

The script for Australia Day is now available for sale here.

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