Farewell, Dame Edna

[AdamSmith]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/comedy/comedy-reviews/10454026/Eat-Pray-Laugh-London-Palladium-review.html

http://m.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2012/03/farewell-dame-edna.html

[Lucky]

She is going on tours after her current London show. I don't imagine she will ever retire.

[msclelovr]

She is going on tours after her current London show. I don't imagine she will ever retire.

I have to dispute with you. He/she has been adamant that this is her final full show. Barry Humphries has said in interviews that Dame Edna may appear in future in small roles as a guest or part of a larger show by others.

I last saw him/her 2 years ago when he/she played a medium-sized role in a larger show. Very funny but clearly he's no longer as vigorous as he once was. Nonetheless, I'm looking forward to this final full show and I'm going on Wednesday evening.

Incidentally, the prices for this show are the highest I can recall in London for a one-person show. I have top-price seats at $160 each.

[msclelovr]

I saw the show last night. The London Palladium, a very large theatre, was packed. The show ran for almost 3 hours with a 20 minute intermission, and Barry Humphries (at nearly 80 years of age) was on stage for almost all of that time.

The first half showed his characters of Dr. Sir Les Patterson (ex Australian cultural attache to Europe) with his very large penis and wildly politically incorrect humour, then Gerard (Les's brother, and boy-loving priest) who talked about how he liked to touch people, followed by Sandy Stone (a bleak ghost of a war veteran) lamenting how Australia has changed.

The second half began with a US TV expose video of the hitherto unrevealed secrets of Dame Edna's life. Then Barry Humphries emerged as Dame Edna in full parody as "Eat, Pray, Laugh" with songs, dance, interviewing audience members etc before a glorious finale of gladioli-throwing.

The whole show was riotous fun and I haven't laughed so hard for so long in ages. One of the highpoints was when Dame Edna invited a gay man and unrelated woman on to the stage so she could "check their tantric DNA". She asked their names and what they did for work - when the woman replied she worked "in sexual health sysytems", Dame Edna exclaimed "I've struck gold!"

After a standing ovation (very rare in London theatres), Barry Humphries returned (in black tie) and gave a charming speech about how he had always loved performing in London but it was time for him to retire.