George Glass. Channel 9 Kevin Crease Studios. 8 Mar 2015
Perhaps you would, too, but the hit show of last decade, 'Keating!’ sprang to mind. However, 'Keating!' was a musical tribute by people who loved the politician and his parliamentary repartee, written at a time of nostalgia for Labor government. Poking fun at Keating was easy and fun and you knew he would have been flattered. Abbott! The Musical is made by people who dislike him, and he's happening now and there is a sense of profound disappointment.
I voted Labor in the last election because I felt Kate Ellis would represent Adelaide in opposition better than Liberal's child-candidate would do in government. However, no way did I want another unstable Labor government headed up by the unbalanced Rudd, and run by chief puppeteer and knife-thrower, Bill Shorten. Like many an Australian, I have a unique philosophy about voting. But Abbott really is a profound disappointment.
Nic Conway, with his Abbottic nose job and blue tac behind the ears to give them the necessary breadth, won me over quickly. His mannerisms and voice were well studied and immediately familiar. Conway's Abbott can't help but put his foot in it and then make the correction even worse. Through the show, he is increasingly made pathetic and isolated. Alister McMichael's Joe Hockey, when not tucking into a pie or ripping apart a chicken, takes a knife through the budget with fabulous falsetto in Fuck 'Em. The songs and dialogues are packed with policy and we see the omnipresent Credlin guide the PM like a mannequin through speeches, only to see him deviate and make some personal view on religion, abortion, detention, or housework a new plank in the Liberal platform.
The musical is written with biting sarcasm and comic exaggeration. Sometimes I felt they "went overboard, like a child in the Timor Sea," as in the frightening tour of a detention centre with a near demonic Scott Morrison. For balance, there is a reporter or PR fellow tagging along with the PM asking reasonable questions. He is like Alice in Wonderland, questioning the hare and the Mad Hatter and getting the same kind of enigmatic answers. Especially scary when a lot of the answers were verbatim from the PM's own statements, and indicated as such via the word ‘QUOTE’ lit up in red on the backstage wall.
You don't have to make this stuff up. Abbott's speech at the Women’s Auxiliary Club on International Women’s Day was another example. What planet is this guy from? I wish I could tell you more about who did what in the show, but there was no programme. Production-wise, the show has not reached its full potential in its presentation or character possibilities. The music was sometimes odd.
They nailed him to the cross, a cross of the Mad Monk's own making, and a true blue Laborite would probably cheer. In the final scene, the exasperated journalist summed up his frustration - "leadership is not running out in front and yelling the loudest." Abbott puts a hand around his shoulder, and has no answer. I left the show feeling rather sad.
David Grybowski
When: 4 to 14 Mar
Where: Channel 9 Kevin Crease Studios
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
