Deliciously wicked and witty, this year’s Wharf Revue is great fun; political satire at its best. The cast of four have enormous fun in the various skits, cutting a swathe through the hot topics of today – boat people and refugees, same sex marriage, the carbon tax, and more.
As the audience enters, the music is Ravel’s relentless, repetitive ‘Bolero’. The back screen projection starts off in a far away galaxy and eventually ends up with a close-up view of Earth. The premise of the show that follows is that the Earth has been destroyed (because of the carbon tax) – but one small spaceship managed to escape and a very few people survived…
Musically, the show uses as its base some of the famous musicals (e.g. Mary Poppins, Guys and Dolls, Camelot and Les Miserables) in assorted re-written tongue twisting skits. There is also a hilarious Mozart medley performed as an 18th century opera. With a nod to Opera Australia’s The Gondoliers, one witty section about refugees and boat people includes a rewrite of ‘Bound for Botany Bay’. For maximum enjoyment the audience has to listen very attentively to the witty, biting lyrics. Precise diction is required, especially in the patter songs, and the brilliant cast don’t disappoint.
Co-creator Jonathan Biggins makes a guest appearance on DVD as Keating, his head in a bell jar like a preserved Victorian-era specimen.
Amanda Bishop has enormous fun in her many roles, including an especially cheery ‘Julia Poppins’ – complete with red hair, red coat and a parrot-handled umbrella. She is also excellent as ‘Princess Julia’ in the opening Star Wars skit, and as a wicked nun in the Galileo sequence about environmental and censorship concerns. She also makes an exquisite Countess in the ‘Figaro’ section; is uncanny as the Burmese leader Aung San Suu Ki in the last section, featuring Bob Carr’s travels (‘Shall We Dance’); and is spot on as Hilary Rodham Clinton.
Drew Forsythe has wonderful fun in his many roles, although the highlight is his quintessentially Australian race caller, in a skit featuring hilarious, tongue-twisting horse names that comments on the Slipper affair. Forsythe is also excellent as a slightly mad cardinal in the Galileo routine, and as ‘Malcolm Skywalker’ in the Star Wars sequence (his ‘Who am I’ was terrific). He is also excellent as Bob Carr, in the final section featuring his travels to the UK, USA and Burma – he gets the mannerisms just right , and makes the most of a self-aggrandizing solo sung to the tune of Lerner & Loewe’s ‘Camelot’ – Carr is a man who ‘reads a lot’.
Phil Scott is brilliant as the mysterious musician (at one point a hooded Jedi) on the spaceship-like silver piano. He also has great fun as John Howard/Yoda in the Star Wars routine, is a terrific Orlando/Suzanna in the Figaro opera, and excellent as an ordinary man from Padua trapped by the Inquisition in the Galileo sequence. His ‘Garden of Earthly Delights’ song, which features a Bosch-like painting projected on the rear screen, is a scary comment on our destruction of the environment. Scott is also great in the ‘Gun Shop’ scene, in conversation with Forsythe; a sketch which features a list of endangered animals you can’t shoot.
Josh Quong Tart has terrific fun is his many roles, including ‘Darth Abbott’, a handsome Figaro, and T.E. Laurence (Laurence of Arabia). He also impresses with his ‘James Packer in the casino’ sequence (to a Guys and Dolls medley) and his speech as Alan Joyce, the Irish CEO of QANTAS.
The set is minimalist, a futuristic silver-grey raised platform with a projection screen behind it, allowing the stage to transform from a spaceship to 10 Downing Street, and the ensemble are excellent. Overall, a dynamic production that had the audience roaring with laughter.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Red Wharf: Beyond the Rings of Satire – The Wharf Revue 2012
Musical Director: Phillip Scott
Lighting Design: Matthew Marshall
Set Realiser/Production Manager: Barry Searle
Costume Supervisor: Scott Fisher
Wigs: Margaret Aston
Video Production: Todd Decker
Music Tracks: Andrew Worboys
Voice Coach: Charmian Gradwell
Cast: Amanda Bishop, Drew Forsythe, Josh Quong Tart, Phillip Scott
Creator: Jonathan Biggins
Running time: 90 mins (approx) no interval
Wharf 2 Theatre, Sydney
1 – 25 November
Wharf 1 Theatre, Sydney
27 November – 22 December
