The main concern I had with Gasp in the first half, was that it wasn’t bad enough. It was pretty ordinary, the jokes were generally average and the hammered in WA references were often excruciating, (cut them all out) and it was very shouty, but initially it wasn’t the stinker I didn’t pay good money for. Certainly not as bad as the two Wintons I saw at this beautiful theatre. I quite liked the bits and pieces sliding in and out for the set changes and Damon was pretty good as Hugh Laurie, but it was just not terrible enough. I could see it would have possibly worked as TV, but on stage, no.
Fortunately after the break Gasp totally died in the arse. Well thank god for that. The letter from the American Indian, the Gina Rheinhart and Clive Palmer jokes, (please cut them all) – it all failed in a way the first half just couldn’t achieve. I guess you want to know whether Ben Elton wore shoes for the curtain call? Yes, he did, although fairly high heeled. And I didn’t see another soul apart from myself wearing a cravat. Fucking pigs. So all in all, I was disappointed in the level of disappointment at first at least. And it’s difficult to know why Black Swan, (Still unaccountably sticking with the sniffing the swan’s arse logo) would want this production. Why would they ask Ben Elton to rewarm a 25 year old play by adding some Tim Tam and (again) Gina jokes? And why would Ben do it? It’s all very well commissioning Tim Winton and assumedly a busload of dramaturgs to bodge up a ghost aborigine piece. But this? Why? Very odd. Are they going to add references to Prix D’Amour, Rose Hancock and Colin Barnett’s shark policy to the Noel Coward they are bringing out next year? That’s what this was like. If the play is classic enough to revive, then it is classic enough not to have forced Perth jokes rammed in every few seconds. Much more interestingly, they were giving away free copies of The West in the lobby. Those better not show up on the circulation figures Kerry. I was astonished to find that Bunbury was to become an Asian Hollywood. Or should that be Asian Bollywoood? That doesn’t sound right either. But in any case, True Story.
The Worst of Perth 
I want to know what happened to Eskimo Joe. From the looks of that picture the rest of that sentence could be ” to find himself on fire”.
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See here, Plonka.
Bunbury. Hollywood of the East.
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Great review. Why FO can’t get you a gig at WSW I’ll never understand. Secret J** business I guess.
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Can he take social pix?
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I’m sure of it.
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the scenery changes were indeed the best bit. The man sitting next to me spent long periods of the first act discussing with his wife how they might have done it. The magic of theatre, and two conveyor belts.
I was waiting for the cast to do an OK Go dance routine as they slid offstage.
I was surprised that Elton updated the jokes, but left the sexual politics back in the 1980’s. A woman sleeping her way up the corporate ladder?
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I’m not sure that “updated” is the right word for the jokes.
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there was a joke about Renee Zellweger’s face.
how much more zeitgeisty do you want?
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panned by Davd Zampatti in Teh West this morning
quote: ‘Ben Elton? Meh’
including specific criticism of the Renee Zellweger joke.
‘a torrent of jokes inserted with little regard for the momentum of dialogue or narrative, fired at us like someone hunting ducks with a machine gun.’
‘Gasp is not a good or worthwhile play and this makeover does precious little to make it one.’
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Sounds harsher than mine. Although I (on youse cunts behalf) am looking for terrible. I wanted really bad and I got just ordinary bad. This type of thing doesn’t have far to fall. The Winton’s were much more “long drops”.
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http://dailyreview.crikey.com.au/gasp-review-heath-ledger-theatre-perth/14855
Whittaker : “he’s certainly succumb of late”. I think he prolly means succubus , “Sir Cucumber” or just sucks. Anyways it is a cri de coeur from Whittaker for some Aussie input : come on you Timmie Wintons step up to the plate and clean up this mess.
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Should I be ashamed I have the least scathing review?
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Was a small spike in stats yesterday. Were they searching for Ben Elton Gasp reviews? No. Dogging in Perth, Perth dogging, dogging locations…
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Presumably looking for docking at the Heath Ledger ?
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Black Swan should commission me to write a play about Perth dogging. I can picture a beautiful boat ramp set…
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With that commission you”ll need your play to show a bit of YWL action. Phwoaaaar. Throw in the bombing of Broome for a bit of your Richard Flananigans.
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Working title, “Three Men on the dog”?
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Small Barred?
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Edit/Find and Replace/”Fatcher’s Britain”/”Team Australia”/Replace All. Send.
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Sir , as one who didn’t see it, not being in the line of grifters getting free tickets, I must say it is bit much to expect that the author would update it to reflect the modern day era.
The part where whatsisname, Nong Belton, appeared in drag as a demented Maggie Thatcher was certainly a crowd pleaser.
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Grifter, or chancer? Blagger?
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This will show Channel 9! Philistines.
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Hey how come I’m anonymous? Does TWOP know something I don’t?
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Yes. We all do.
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Spaceport? Swan Valley Disneyland? Bunbury Bollywood? The West a newspaper? Existentialism.
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We’re going on the 8th November. With some luck it might get worse.
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Off topic but much mythmaking in Albany that should qualify for a Worst Of category somewhere. The WA guys who returned from WW1 voted to secede from Australia 15 years later, along with 68% of the population. So much for Nation Building. But shhh don’t tell anyone eh
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Gina jokes?
Why is Gina like a mine? You can drive a haulpak in or fly in fly out.
Why did Red Dog bum rides to the mines? Coz he was Fido not Fifo
How did Red Dog become the littlest hobo? Gina replaced him with a Pekinese
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