Ahead of a small media crowd today at the Capitol, Dame Edna Everage talked at length about her career and her farewell tour (her “Diamonte Jubilee”) “EAT PRAY LAUGH!”, which kicks off tonight at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney and runs until July 14th.
The show stars Dame Edna Everage, with Barry Humphries, Sandy Stone and Sir Les Patterson and has been directed by Simon Phillips, who was also on hand for the media call earlier today. At the event, Simon called the show one of “the most enjoyable experiences of my career”. Edna acknowledged that age had everything to do with wrapping up her stage life, but said that her “adrenal gland is still as strong as ever was, at least according to my gynecologist”. Classic Edna.
She spoke of the “big buzz” she still gets from performing on the stage, and spoke of her “estranged” relationship from her “manager” Barry Humphries due to a “Little something called Embezzlement”. Staying on the ball throughout, and perhaps giving us a taste of what will come in on the show, when asked “What do you recommend to the Prime Minister to increase her popularity”, Edna replied dryly, “Retirement”. She also commented on the poor state of the Sydney Morning Herland: “I feel sorry for the fish and chips that have to wrapped up in that paper!”.
But finally it was about the show, to which she had this to say: “I don’t know what my show is about. I guess it’s my ceaseless intellectual curiousity. I’m sharing myself with people… You can only hold onto things if you let them go, I’m becoming a bit of a philosopher. I’ll be giving away what I’ve got in my shows, so I can keep what I have… a paradox? Yes. I am only doing these shows to enjoy myself. Sydney audiences in particular give me an opportunity to see how much better dressed I am than them, and how much more interesting I am than them”.
Asked to what she hopes to leave behind after she’s gone, she said simply, “I Hope I leave a legacy of laughter”. I think it goes without saying that she has achieved this with flying colours. Tickets are available from ticketmaster.com.au and start from $99. The show will tour the country and hit New York and London in the “next year or so…”.
