How To Be (or not to be) Lower

How To Be (Or Not To Be) Lower is a solo tribute show looking at the crazy, funny and turbulent life and times of the writer Lennie Lower, known as “Australia’s Greatest Humorist”.  Max Cullen has reworked this from an original piece from 10 years ago. He has borrowed from Lower’s writing, and has shaped it into an amusing yet thoughtful piece. Here we learn about the man who was employed by Frank Packer to create daily humorous columns for the Daily Telegraph, then, following a disastrous introduction to Noel Coward, on to write for Smith’s Weekly.

Max Cullen has tapped into the figure of the sad clown, complete with white-face and eyes on the verge of tears with black kohl smudges. Lower’s background was a mystery and Cullen fills in the blanks – with truth? A good tale? Truth bent to suit a funny line? Does it matter if the story finishes on a punchline? He delivered eight articles for the princely sum of 100 pounds a week during the Depression with the instruction “Make ‘em laugh!” and he did.

The set is a delight, designed by Margarita Georgiadis, with a nod to the cartooning conventions of the 1930s, and later the work of Emile Mercier (complete with painted springs below the raised platform).  The soundscape and lighting (designed by Nick Merrylees and Seth Edwards-Ellis) work together with Cullen’s entrances and exits to create at times an energetic comic strip mixed with old films.  All the while, Caroline Stacey’s direction reminds us of the man beneath the clown’s makeup, moving colour and tempo. The collaboration is to be commended.

Rachel McGrath-Kerr

Photographer: Nick Merrylees