Dame Edna is bidding farewell (well, at least to us folk outside Australia). Barry Humphries brings the legend to the Millenium Centre stage for the last (and first) time along with some old ac
ts to keep her company. The evening begins with the embodiment of the xenophobe, Les Patterson. Announcing that he’s working towards becoming the world’s top celebrity chef, he spends the majority of his time dribbling into his gourmet rissoles and rushing off every ten minutes due to violent bowel movements. Two unsuspecting latecomers try to sneak in, failing miserably, and spend the next fifteen minutes on stage with Les, flipping his rissoles and handing him extra toilet paper.
Humphries delivers a poignant monologue before the interval, a character named Sandy. He reminisces about the Australia of old and his occupation as a spirit as he watches over his wife Beryl at a care home for the ‘bewildered’. He sympathizes with staff who are more preoccupied with updating their Facebook status’ than picking Beryl up after a fall. It was a rather stark contrast to move from Patterson to Sandy, but it really did highlight Humphries’ ability to do just that; to move from the grotesquely comical to the believable and heartfelt.
Dame Edna makes her grand entrance post interval arriving on a gigantic Indian elephant. A video fills us in on what Edna has been up to, and it isn’t pretty. She got herself mixed up with Al quaeda so felt it necessary to embark on a spiritual cleansing journey to the Far East. Edna delivers a fantastic hour of comedy; She has to be the only character who is successful in creating twenty minutes of comedy gold from incessant audience interaction.
After Edna’s grand exit, Humphries emerges in a trilby and a wonderful double breasted velvet jacket. He keeps it short and sweet, walking through the smoke to the sound of Gracie Fields’ ‘Wish Me Luck As You Wave Me Goodbye.’ It really was a privilege to watch the amazing stamina of a 79 year old legend. I’m sure it won’t be the last time we see Edna, but it certainly was an emotional farewell to a character that has become an inherent figure in the entertainment industry.
Elin Williams 