The Wharf Revue – The End of the Wharf As We Know It.

What shall we do without The Wharf Revue? ‘Tis hard to accept that this will be the last! For over 25 years Jonathan Biggins, Drew Forsythe, Phil Scott (and his piano) have brilliantly lampooned politics and politicians from here and overseas. They’ve done it in song, in dance, in verse and on screen. Even in telling contemplations that played poignantly above the satire.  

They’ve picked up mannerisms and movements, quirks and clichés, affectations and artifices and developed them into impersonations that have been incredibly realistic ... and funny! Prime Ministers and Presidents, senators and stirrers, moguls and millionaires! All have been cunningly and cleverly mocked … and audiences have flocked to see them all over NSW and in Melbourne and Brisbane.

But no more! Except for this last, slightly longer, even a bit wistful, retrospective romp! They have included all the contemporary favourites, and a few new ones, as well as some treasures from the past! Hawke about to play with the Prime Minister’s Eleven, dear old Bob Brown, an aging John Howard, the almost-forgotten Australian Democrats … and Paul Keating!

In fact Keating (Biggins of course!) opens the show – “You didn’t think I’d miss this did you?” – and gives it a proper, Paul pasting!

From Three Men and a Baby Grand way back at the Tilbury Hotel to their 1990s TV program of the same name, Biggins, Forsythe and Scott had been “taking the mickey’ out of “people of note” for years. When they moved to the Wharf Theatre twenty-five years ago with a few props and a new name, who could have imagined such a long future or such an extensive, devoted band of followers.

When you really think about it, where else in the world would the populace countenance such pointed satire? Such clear caricatures? Such raunchy ridicule? We are such a bold, broad-minded, lucky country!

In this their final show “the Three Men” are joined once again by Mandy Bishop and David Whitney. Together these five brilliant performers not only “flashback” to the past, but introduce a few new characters, including some well-known English TV stars – led by dual UK/Australian citizen Miriam Margoles – wheeled on by the inimitable Phil Scott complete with a new wig, expansive girth and, of course, a little flatulence!

“On tour” in Australian she meets up with island hopping Martin Clunes (Whitney), Joanna Lumley (Bishop) and their monarch Charles Rex (Biggins again). This new segment was a welcome, very funny surprise, especially for ABC viewers!

The very lithe Jonathan Biggins in a silver sequinned mini-dress and high, silver boots is an elegant Angus Taylor Swift explaining that when asked about policies you just “Make it Up”!

Various ‘hindsight’ segments remind the audience of ‘policies’ that have come under fire in the in the last 25 years – the environment, finance, foreign affairs, climate change. All the PMs and pundits who dealt with them appear in ‘door stop’ video grabs, while some ex-pollies looking remarkably like Joe Hockey and Mathias Cormann explain the possibilities of “Jobs for the Boys”.

An aging Rupert Murdoch (Forsythe) and Peter Dutton (Whitney) broach a much more immediate policy – the nuclear alternative – and possibly a return to coal and gas!

One of the best sketches is a disco in 1984 where a young ‘with it’ Anthony Albanese (Biggins) and Julia Gillard (Bishop) and slightly out-of-fashion Kevin Rudd (Scott) dance to The Angels “Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again” complete with the usual audience response – though Rudd never gets it right!

Mandy Bishop becomes Jacqui Lambie MC-ing the parliamentary Midwinter Ball, and Drew Forsythe returns in his delightful impersonation of Pauline Hanson – “The red diva of the red house” – in a “One Nation, One woman show” complete with malapropisms like “I am unparalysed in history”!

Oh, how we shall miss those clever impressions, those ingenious parodies, the timing, the pace, the intelligence! Thankfully this is just the beginning of this final show, so don’t miss it! See it at the Seymour Centre until the end of the year –  or at the other many venues on their 2025 tour.

Carol Wimmer

Photographer: Vishal Pandey

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