Politics to the Max

Max Gillies brings his new show to the Melbourne Arts Centre from 13^th - 28^th March 2015, and Coral Drouyn caught him during some time out to talk about satire.

Max Gillies is a National Treasure – but he is not a comedian; he is at great pains to thank me for recognising that. Gillies is an actor, and a fine one, who has specialised in Political Satire.

“I think of comedians as people who do stand-up, make off the cuff observations and heckle the audience. That isn’t me; at best I am a comic actor. I rely on my writers. (Gillies often writes with them). They are marvellous and very clever. I simply interpret what they give me. Without them, there wouldn’t be a performance.”

Gillies may be under-selling himself, but he is a generous man with an unwavering commitment to his great love – acting. People forget that Max was a founding member of the Australian Performing Group….more affectionately known by the name of their Carlton theatre – The Pram Factory. It was both his rock and his creative muse – and the reason Max gave up teaching to be part of an actors’ co-operative.

But something else had caught his attention….American political satire.

“Mort Sahl…my goodness. Was there ever anyone so politically aware and so fearless? I had never heard anything like him in the sixties and seventies. Actually...I have never heard anything like him since, simply amazing, and a feast for anyone with an interest in politics, like myself. I really must try to find those old Mort Sahl records and see if they hold up now after the events.” (I assured him that they do).

So what makes great political satire – and is it a thing of the past? Max has very definite views.

“Satire is reactionary. There has to be something that outrages and appals you…but not a person. The person must be individual enough to lampoon, but it’s the idea or policies that you are poking fun at, and holding to account. Back in the days of Gough Whitlam of course there was a game between the politicians and the Ssatirists. Our greatest satirist, Barry Humphries, poked fun at the British Establishment awards and honours system… score one for the satirists. Gough responded by making Edna Everage a Dame and then making all Australian awards for Australians only – score one for the politicans. And so it went for many years and satire thrived.

Now you have this current political crop…well, what can I say? What do they stand for? Not a lot in some cases. There has to be respect even in satire. These days there is not a lot to respect. And almost everything they do is satire in itself…they have already done the satirists job.” I suggest to him that if one of his brilliant writers – Guy Rundle or Patrick Cook, say – had come to him with a piece on Abbott knighting Prince Phillip, he would have thought it was satirical gold. Max chuckles. “Exactly, and I would have jumped at it – but our PM seems determined to satirise himself.”

Might it be, then, that satire is dead. “Not dead, but it’s a different life form now. It isn’t caricature as we knew it, but Shaun Micallef still does it brilliantly. It’s perhaps a little crueller in some cases, but that is the nature of the world.

Max is 73, and still creating satirical opportunities for himself.

“There are many roles in drama I won’t get to play, but I don’t waste time worrying about it. The truth is that many theatre companies simply no longer think of me as an actor, part of an ensemble, even though there are roles I would love to play….Archie Rice in The Entertainer is one (Sidebar -  and wouldn’t he be marvellous). But I like to work and thankfully there is still an audience that wants to see me.”

There is indeed – and Max brings his new show, Once were Leaders, to the Arts Centre, starting this Friday 13^th March. Gone are all the make-up and props of days gone by, but Max’s pixie, slightly naughty, expression, is an infectious as ever, and his observations with hindsight are very funny.

“Yes, I still do Hawke, and Howard, and all the old favourites, but they are now more of a retrospective. I hope there is still plenty of bite but also a great deal of affection. After all, those men and women who Once Were Leaders have been a part of me for a long time.”