Six years after the Wharf Revue teams’ first show for the Sydney Theatre Company the four member team of Jonathon Biggins, Drew Forsythe, Genevieve Lemon and Phil Scott, are still firing their satirical shots.
Their show covered a lot of territory…a great spoof of security services with a ‘Get Smart’ skit featuring Phil Scott as the Chief…a skit on Geoffrey Robertson’s ‘Hypothetical’ series with Drew Forsythe doing a hilarious impersonation of the great man…Jonathon Biggins did his usual New Zealand Defence, or lack of it, skit…Phil Scott his piano solo…Genevieve Lemon some fine singing…some more spoofing of the ABC’s 7.30 Report
The team went out of their comfort zone when they performed a serious sketch. Drew Forsythe played Phillip Ruddock, and portrayed him as an idealistic man who had sold his soul. They charted his journey from an idealistic lawyer who did work for Amnesty International to a conservative politician responsible for harsh policies against refugees. It was pretty decent political theatre.
One disappointment with the show that I had was that for a team that was supposed to have its pulse on social/political issues, the team didn’t devote much energy/material to the new Industrial Relations reforms.
All in all, ‘Stuff All Happens’ was patchy but it was a lot of fun, and it’s always worth seeing what the STC’s ín-house’ revue team come up with.