Review: Godzone

Max Gillies has forged a lengthy and respected career in Australia as an actor and satirist. His latest stab at contemporary Australian politics with co-writer Guy Rundle, Godzone, has been doing the rounds this February and March, recently decamping from the Seymour Centre in Sydney to head to Parramatta.

With the Gillies reputation for magic dancing in my ears, I headed over last Saturday to get my dose. Sadly I found no refreshing elixir, but rather a clumsy, disconnected attempt at parody that badly missed the mark.

Perhaps I have been spoilt by last December’s outrageously brilliant Pennies from Kevin, the Wharf Revue by Jonathan Biggins, Drew Forsythe and Phillip Scott. The ingenious plot, pitch-perfect impersonations, Chaser-esque musical numbers and impeccable timing of the Wharf Revue saw the audience in equal measure grinningly awestruck and afflicted by unstoppable convulsions of laughter. The team was literally writing mementos of each day’s political scandal into that evening’s show, making every performance clever, unique and fresher than a Coalition policy announcement.

In comparison Godzone was stale and embarrassing. The trademark Gillies dress-ups and parodies of political identities were present but uninspiring; the satire restricted to the occasional snappy line. Perhaps Gillies was tired after several months of dragging this lame dog around the southern states. He certainly looked tired on stage. You know you’re in trouble when your audience is cringing for you, not for your content.

The production resembled a Sydney Uni revue: over-long scenes interspersed with snippets of amateur-looking video and budget effects. Gillies did manage a passable Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard, and displayed the odd moment of gold while taking swipes at Barnaby Joyce and Steve Fielding.

But when it came to Kevin Rudd, a man who almost parodies himself, there was no moment of reckless abandon, no tumbling down into free ridicule. And when you can mine the rich depths of Rudd-land and come up with something so dry and impersonal, it’s probably time to stop.