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Recently, my good friend Sye and I went to see a matinee performance of Barry Humphries’ Eat, Pray and Laugh show at the Opera House in Manchester.
The show kicked off with Les Patterson, Humphries’ outrageous politician character and the belly chuckles were immediate. In the Les Get Cooking sketch, Les reveals his four assistants, come dancers and backup vocals. Two gorgeous men (the other two were women) came onto the stage in tight yellow t-shirts and equally tight denim shorts and I have to admit they distracted me at times. It was a great sketch with Les and Gerard (his brother) creating continuous laughter among the audience. Below are some photos before the show started: |
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The next sketch introduced the character Sandy Stone. This was probably my favourite sketch. Sandy is an old man that reflects on his life in a touching and sentimental way; yet comedy and good humour were used to pitch the sketch perfectly to the auidence. This sketch was theatre at its best and brought us to the interval.
Dame Edna was on top form as she performed for the second half of the show. Laughter echoed through the audience as she arrived on the back of a jewelled elephant, before falling off onto the stage. Dame Edna was her usual warm, funny and engaging self which was a pleasure to watch. She left the audience feeling entertained and uplifted.
Throughout the show there was lots of audience participation and improvisation. Humphries’ demonstrated his extensive theatre expertise; no doubt gained through decades of experience.
The show came to an end far too quickly, with Humphries coming out as himself at the end to thunderous applause. Here are some photos from the end of the show:
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Normally, I’d recommend that you buy tickets to see this superb show. However the tour is coming to an end in the UK. But if you can manage to get hold of tickets, grab them and go. You won’t regret it.
Blog soon,
Antony
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