dame edna

sherry and i had the special privilege of a night with dame edna everage at the state theatre on sunday.  for those of you who know who the dame is i need not say more...but for those less fortunate readers, here's a take on the show from me and then sherry will give her 'outsiders' reflections.

i have grown up with the dame but, until last night, had never seen her live.  it was wildly entertaining...part stand-up comedy, part cabaret, and part audience-humiliation.  barry humphries is the comedian who plays dame edna, a 1950's housewife from the suburbs of melbourne who has risen to mega(giga!)stardom.  humphries has several other characters such as the deceased sandy stone (who visits us from beyond and gives us a post-mortem view of life and aged care) and  sir les patterson (the slovenly and depraved cultural attache to britain). 

humphries uses these characters to distort ordinary life and to subsequently bring us the truth about ourselves...our absurd obsession with celebrity and appearances (dame edna), the twisted, australian delight in the seedy side of things (les patterson), and our shameful treatment of the aged (sandy stone).  anyway, i could go on and on.  a great night and thanks to an insider friend we had incredible seats and ended up sitting right behind 'Kim' from the australian hit comedy (of the equally dark, satirical persuasion as the dame), "Kath & Kim."