The Wharf Revue is an institution of the Sydney Theatre scene and has many faithful followers. Written and created by Jonathan Biggins and Drew Forsythe, this incarnation includes the equally brilliant, clever performers Rachel Beck, Douglas Hansell and Andrew Warboys: – they can act, sing, dance, create, play instruments, do comedy, write snappy satire and each brings an impressive resume to the show.… more than enough to make the rest of us envy the fairies at their christenings.
And, these creatives take their work on tour, making their laconic humour available to those who live beyond the reach of the STC.
The set (Charles Davis) functions well for a touring show. High res multimedia presentations facilitate fast changes and set the mood and scene effectively and quickly. Scaffolding provides levels to play out power games although not used as effectively in staging as they might be; some missed opportunities here.
The fare is the usual: politicians are lampooned through a series of appropriated musical comedy numbers, shaped to fit the current political scene. Herein lies a small problem, although if may be guessed from the title of this Revue – “Deja Revue”. Of course, the title might refer to our political parties’ continual habit of shuffling deckchairs on the Titanic but it seemed to be more reflective of the style and substance of the material. The material is clever but there is not much fresh or innovative in it. It feels like a university revue of thirty or forty years ago. Parodies of well-known songs from a variety of Broadway musicals, it still seemed to lack a connecting theme. For some, the disconnectedness is welcome – one has no idea what is coming next except of course, more of the same.
Political satire is an important element of a free society. We need to celebrate our right to criticise those whom we pay to lead us. The chilling appearance of a Putin and an al-Assad remind us that this sort of entertainment would not be freely available in a few parts of the world and the writers and performers would be either jailed or “disappeared”. There is a nice savage underthrust from the Queen, failing to get through to Trump that leadership brings responsibility and a need for integrity. Living in the Westminster Parliamentary system with an English monarch seems to have saved us from the like of ruthless men such as Trump, Jong-Un, Putin and al-Assad.
(I would like to enter a caveat here – row H in the Riverside Theatre is on the same level as Row G. There were two very tall young, affectionate men in front me. I had to contort and slump into odd shapes to see anything on the stage. Need a chiropractor ….)
Kate Stratford – On The Town
