An Evening With Max Gillies; co-created by Max Gillies and Andrew
Barker
ANZ Pavilion, Arts Centre
Melbourne, until 28 March 2015
Reviewer: Kate Herbert on 13 March 2015
Stars:****
Full review also published in H-Sun online on Mon 16 March 2015 and thereafter in print. KH
(Oops! Sorry. I forgot to upload the full review 10 days ago. See it below now. KH)
Max
Gillies is one of our greatest, Australian political satirists and, after 40+
years of lampooning national and international leaders, his depictions are just
as acerbic and disturbingly accurate.
Once
Were Leaders does not feature the elaborate wigs and make-up seen in Gillies’ previous
live productions or in The Gillies Report from the 1980s.
It
is a blend of political commentary and analysis of satire that are illustrated
by a retrospective of Gillies’ most memorable portrayals of leaders.
Apart
from the insertion of snippets of video, Gillies does this without costumes and
prosthetics, but by shifting from an easy, conversational tone into his notable
speeches, written by former collaborators and masters of language, Don Watson,
Patrick Cook and Guy Rundle.
Gillies
describes our recent political history as suffering an extended period of
leadership deficit that is epitomised by our current leader, Tony Abbott, with
his three-word slogans and political gaffes.
Gillies’
targets include a chronological, fools’ gallery of larger-than-life government
leaders, starting with Robert Menzies with his beetle-like eyebrows and the
ludicrously big-eared and babbling Billy McMahon.
He
moves to Gough Whitlam with his resonant voice and smug attitude, Andrew Peacock’s
orange tan and Malcolm Fraser’s awkwardness and patrician tones.
The
parade comtinues with Bob Hawke’s famous laughter, flimsy protests and shallow
apologies, Ian Richardson’s back-room backstabbing, Kevin Rudd’s weird hand
gestures and desire for the leadership.
There
are also detours to a clown-like Ronald Reagan, supercilious Maggie Thatcher
and the Queen, in her 300-room, ivory tower.
Revisiting
a flash of brilliance, Gillies ends with his depiction of a seemingly bumbling John
Howard wearing a dressing gown and seated in a 1950s lounge room, exemplifying backward
thinking government.
“Take
a step forward into the past,” say the lyrics of the folksy song we hear, but
Gillies’ satire reminds us that leaders should be taking us boldly into the
future with integrity, passion and honesty.
By
Kate Herbert