Australia: The Show

Editorial

When: 24 August - 4 September, 2010
Where: Glen Street Theatre, Cnr Glen Street & Blackbutts Road, Belrose
Tickets: Glen Street Theatre, (02) 9975 1455

What does it mean to be Australian? According to the Opening Ceremony of the 2000 Olympics it's all about owning Victa lawnmowers and watching The Man from Snowy River, being able to identify Ned Kelly and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The official Australian Citizenship Test quizzes applicants about the identity of the first Governor of New South Wales and the colours of the Aboriginal flag. The average person in the street might reference such beliefs as mateship, larrikinism, an adventurous spirit and a fair go for all.

There are no easy answers, and often only clichés, but that hasn't stopped Aidan Fennessy, Jon Halpin, Jean-Marc Russ and Hayden Spencerby exploring the vexed question of Australian identity in a satirical new production, Australia: The Show.

This witty and delightful play-within-a-play focuses on two incompetent, over-ambitious amateur actors, Leslie Barrymore Lockett (a theatre creator par excellence) and his sidekick, Owen Blunt (blunt by name, blunter by nature) as they interrogate Australian history via a sophisticated theatrical device known as the 'space jump' ("Fear not, for it's only the magic of theatre!").

Marvel at set pieces like 'Owen & the Emu' (which will redefine your appreciation of mime), take your very own Immigration Test, and relive the events of the Eureka Stockade - as a rap song!

Richard Watts, Citysearch