David Kary

The Wharf Revue- Not Quite Out Of The Woods

The three independents in bed together! Pic- Tracy Schramm

The clowns are back and they’re in great form with their new show, ‘The Wharf Revue- Not Quite Out Of The Woods’ at their home venue, Wharf 2 at the Sydney Theatre Company.

Straight away, the Revue team set the tone for their evening of political satire, with the audience walking in to see, on the large stage multimedia screen, a picture of Prime Minister Julia Gillard, dressed as Little Red Riding Hood and carrying her picnic basket, fighting things out in the woods with the Leader of The Opposition, Tony Abbott, dressed in wolf’s clothing and wearing his famous budgie smugglers.

The show got off to a flying start with their first skit, ‘Opening Q and A’, a merciless take-off of the Australian Broadcasting Commission’s regular Monday night television show, and the team kept up the momentum for a whirlwind ninety minutes.

My highlights from the show…the skit with the 3 independents in bed together and Drew Forsythe as Bob Katter wearing one of Katter’s famous Akubra hats…’Hey Hey It’s Yesterday’ depicting a cantankerous Mark Latham as a television host oblivious that he truly is yesterday’s news…’Boulevarde of Broken Dreams’ with two former Labor Prime Ministers, Hawke and Rudd, commiserating over drinks with each other…and the cutting skit, ‘Unpopular Mechanicals’, depicting the sad state of the New South Wales Labor Government with a huge swipe at unpopular power broker Joe Tripodi.

The mix of Drew Forsythe and Jonathon Biggins’s playfulness, Phil Scott’s breathtaking skill with the grand piano, and Amanda Bishop’s awesome impersonations make for consummate cabaret/revue entertainment.

‘The Wharf Revue- Not Quite Out Of The Woods’ opened at Wharf 2 at the Sydney Theatre Company on Friday 8th October and plays until Sunday 19th December, 2010.

Following on from its Sydney season, the Wharf Revue team take their show, for the first time, to Melbourne as guests of the Melbourne Theatre Company, performing at the Sumner theatre between the 5th and the 29th January, 2011.

Tags- Sydney Theatre Company, ‘The Wharf Revue- Not Quite Out Of The Woods’. Jonathon Biggins, Drew Forsythe, Phillip Scott, Amanda Bishop, Melbourne Theatre Company, Political satire.