The Dismissal
Oct. 12th, 2023 11:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meteordustThe Dismissal is a new musical about the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis.
... Wait, come back. It's actually really good!
I loved Keating!, so I would have gone to see this in any case. But I was excited by the fact that (1) the songs are by Laura Murphy, who did the songs for the fantastic Bell Shakespeare musical The Lovers, and (2) the production is by Squabbalogic, who are working on the long anticipated Good Omens musical.
One of the promos for The Dismissal has a Sydney Morning Herald pull quote that says "Australia's answer to Hamilton". Which is kind of hilarious. The official tagline is "An Extremely Serious Musical Comedy". I feel like any Australian musical about politics has to be irreverent.
Anyway, here's the trailer:
The history
On 11 November 1975, the Governor-General (Sir John Kerr) sacked the Prime Minister (Gough Whitlam) and installed the Opposition Leader (Malcolm Fraser) to form a caretaker government.
Almost 50 years later, it's still one of the most controversial events in Australian politics.
The musical
The Dismissal is currently having its world premiere season at the Seymour Centre in Sydney. I got to see it a few weeks ago, and I've been thinking about it since. It does so many inventive and interesting things.
It opens with the moment we all know: Gough Whitlam on the steps of Parliament House after the dismissal, telling the shocked and angry crowd to "Maintain your rage" until the election, and making his iconic pronouncement "Well may we say 'God Save the Queen' because nothing will save the Governor-General!"
And then a jump cut to the aftermath of the election, when Sir John Kerr is swearing in Malcolm Fraser as the new Prime Minister, after he won in a landslide.
And then we go back in time, to see what led up to these moments.
A more complex and interesting picture than what I had osmosed. I knew about the blocked supply, but not about the loans affair, for example.
The casting
It was a brilliant decision to cross-gender cast Sir John Kerr (played by Octavia Barron-Martin), among several other characters. I love that more productions are doing this. It opens up more opportunities for performers, and balances productions that are heavily focused on male characters.
But the standout performer for me was Monique Sallé (who I first saw playing Puck in The Lovers). She brought a fabulous energy to the persuasive financier Tirath Khemlani, was wonderfully hapless as rolled Liberal leader Billy Snedden, and rocked out as Queen Elizabeth II in a Union Jack coat and leather shorts.
The villains
It's weird to apply the term to real life people, but this was me trying to predict the thread of the narrative.
Sir John Kerr was certainly vilified for his actions, using the reserve powers to oust an elected government. His performer describes him as "Kind of the villain of the piece. Not necessarily in this, but as part of our national psyche." But the musical starts off presenting him almost as a buffoon: ambitious for status and easily influenced. Whitlam clearly sees Kerr as a useful figurehead when he offers him the role of Governor-General.
Then Sir Garfield Barwick, Chief Justice of the High Court, appears in a puff of smoke and a crash of thunder. His entrance is heralded by an ominous riff, like a Sinister Disney Villain. He has the white wig and the black robes and a commanding voice that he uses to convince Kerr to accept the role of Governor-General (and later to take action against Whitlam). And I'm like, "Oh, so maybe he's actually the villain!"
Then Malcolm Fraser challenges for leadership of the Liberal Party, and wins, in a calculating and ruthless way. And I'm like, "Oh, I guess now we finally have our villain!" The costume designer describes him as "suave", but that's an understatement. He has cold charisma, a sharp suit and sharper cheekbones, like a Hot Anime Villain. Exhibit A: the song "Private School Boys" (aka the Liberal Party origin story). I was not expecting Hot Malcolm Fraser in this show, but here we are. (The first and only comment on the YouTube video: "I'm not joking — this song was a sexual awakening.")
Oh yeah, there's one more villain. A giant evil puppet called Rupert, who pours out his spite and ego into the newspapers. The credits list him as The Media Baron, but we all know he is.
The aftermath
Kerr isn't the villain, according to the musical. He's a tragic figure, caught between impossible demands. He realises that he's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. History would make him the villain, and he was right.
There's a scene near the end, when Whitlam and Fraser are packing up the stage together, and having a companionable conversation. It's kind of meta, because they're speaking from the vantage of the afterlife. (They eventually reconciled and campaigned together for an Australian republic.)
Whitlam confirms to Fraser that he never spoke to Kerr again. Fraser tells Whitlam that when Kerr died, his family buried him privately, because they didn't want to risk the humiliation of being refused a state funeral.
Other notes
* The narrator of the show was Norman Gunston, who, as a likeable everyman, was the perfect choice for the role. It's a bit mindboggling to have an actor playing a character who was a character played by another actor. But it worked. And the real Norman Gunston was actually there that day, on the steps of Parliament House, trying to interview Whitlam, and being told off by Bob Hawke for not taking things more seriously.
* In one of the montage scenes, we get Harold Holt, wading across the stage in snorkel and flippers. Is it still too soon? I laughed, anyway.
* "Rain Down Under" - Australia thirsts for political change. "The drought is a metaphor!" Poking gentle fun at musical conventions, and I love it.
* "Headline" - Junie Morosi, political staffer, deals with the insinuations of the press. And it brings to mind everything that women in Federal Parliament still have to deal with, 50 years later.
* I could probably write more about the songs if I had, like, a cast recording or a lyric sheet to refresh my memory. But the musical is so new they don't exist yet. Anyway, I loved them, wish I could listen to them again, hope I can someday.
Further reading: What do you get when you cross Keating! with Hamilton? A Gough Whitlam musical (Sydney Morning Herald article)
... Wait, come back. It's actually really good!
I loved Keating!, so I would have gone to see this in any case. But I was excited by the fact that (1) the songs are by Laura Murphy, who did the songs for the fantastic Bell Shakespeare musical The Lovers, and (2) the production is by Squabbalogic, who are working on the long anticipated Good Omens musical.
One of the promos for The Dismissal has a Sydney Morning Herald pull quote that says "Australia's answer to Hamilton". Which is kind of hilarious. The official tagline is "An Extremely Serious Musical Comedy". I feel like any Australian musical about politics has to be irreverent.
Anyway, here's the trailer:
The history
On 11 November 1975, the Governor-General (Sir John Kerr) sacked the Prime Minister (Gough Whitlam) and installed the Opposition Leader (Malcolm Fraser) to form a caretaker government.
Almost 50 years later, it's still one of the most controversial events in Australian politics.
The musical
The Dismissal is currently having its world premiere season at the Seymour Centre in Sydney. I got to see it a few weeks ago, and I've been thinking about it since. It does so many inventive and interesting things.
It opens with the moment we all know: Gough Whitlam on the steps of Parliament House after the dismissal, telling the shocked and angry crowd to "Maintain your rage" until the election, and making his iconic pronouncement "Well may we say 'God Save the Queen' because nothing will save the Governor-General!"
And then a jump cut to the aftermath of the election, when Sir John Kerr is swearing in Malcolm Fraser as the new Prime Minister, after he won in a landslide.
And then we go back in time, to see what led up to these moments.
A more complex and interesting picture than what I had osmosed. I knew about the blocked supply, but not about the loans affair, for example.
The casting
It was a brilliant decision to cross-gender cast Sir John Kerr (played by Octavia Barron-Martin), among several other characters. I love that more productions are doing this. It opens up more opportunities for performers, and balances productions that are heavily focused on male characters.
But the standout performer for me was Monique Sallé (who I first saw playing Puck in The Lovers). She brought a fabulous energy to the persuasive financier Tirath Khemlani, was wonderfully hapless as rolled Liberal leader Billy Snedden, and rocked out as Queen Elizabeth II in a Union Jack coat and leather shorts.
The villains
It's weird to apply the term to real life people, but this was me trying to predict the thread of the narrative.
Sir John Kerr was certainly vilified for his actions, using the reserve powers to oust an elected government. His performer describes him as "Kind of the villain of the piece. Not necessarily in this, but as part of our national psyche." But the musical starts off presenting him almost as a buffoon: ambitious for status and easily influenced. Whitlam clearly sees Kerr as a useful figurehead when he offers him the role of Governor-General.
Then Sir Garfield Barwick, Chief Justice of the High Court, appears in a puff of smoke and a crash of thunder. His entrance is heralded by an ominous riff, like a Sinister Disney Villain. He has the white wig and the black robes and a commanding voice that he uses to convince Kerr to accept the role of Governor-General (and later to take action against Whitlam). And I'm like, "Oh, so maybe he's actually the villain!"
Then Malcolm Fraser challenges for leadership of the Liberal Party, and wins, in a calculating and ruthless way. And I'm like, "Oh, I guess now we finally have our villain!" The costume designer describes him as "suave", but that's an understatement. He has cold charisma, a sharp suit and sharper cheekbones, like a Hot Anime Villain. Exhibit A: the song "Private School Boys" (aka the Liberal Party origin story). I was not expecting Hot Malcolm Fraser in this show, but here we are. (The first and only comment on the YouTube video: "I'm not joking — this song was a sexual awakening.")
Oh yeah, there's one more villain. A giant evil puppet called Rupert, who pours out his spite and ego into the newspapers. The credits list him as The Media Baron, but we all know he is.
The aftermath
Kerr isn't the villain, according to the musical. He's a tragic figure, caught between impossible demands. He realises that he's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. History would make him the villain, and he was right.
There's a scene near the end, when Whitlam and Fraser are packing up the stage together, and having a companionable conversation. It's kind of meta, because they're speaking from the vantage of the afterlife. (They eventually reconciled and campaigned together for an Australian republic.)
Whitlam confirms to Fraser that he never spoke to Kerr again. Fraser tells Whitlam that when Kerr died, his family buried him privately, because they didn't want to risk the humiliation of being refused a state funeral.
Other notes
* The narrator of the show was Norman Gunston, who, as a likeable everyman, was the perfect choice for the role. It's a bit mindboggling to have an actor playing a character who was a character played by another actor. But it worked. And the real Norman Gunston was actually there that day, on the steps of Parliament House, trying to interview Whitlam, and being told off by Bob Hawke for not taking things more seriously.
* In one of the montage scenes, we get Harold Holt, wading across the stage in snorkel and flippers. Is it still too soon? I laughed, anyway.
* "Rain Down Under" - Australia thirsts for political change. "The drought is a metaphor!" Poking gentle fun at musical conventions, and I love it.
* "Headline" - Junie Morosi, political staffer, deals with the insinuations of the press. And it brings to mind everything that women in Federal Parliament still have to deal with, 50 years later.
* I could probably write more about the songs if I had, like, a cast recording or a lyric sheet to refresh my memory. But the musical is so new they don't exist yet. Anyway, I loved them, wish I could listen to them again, hope I can someday.
Further reading: What do you get when you cross Keating! with Hamilton? A Gough Whitlam musical (Sydney Morning Herald article)
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