Friday, September 01, 2006

Last Drinks

Last night I went to the Roundhouse Theatre to see Last Drinks, all by myself. It's accurately billed as a thrilling noir cocktail, where an ex-alcoholic journalist is lured back to Brisbane after ten years by the gruesome murder of an old friend and partner in crime. There's a whole cast of shady characters, left-overs from the Bjelke-Peterson dark ages... Marvin McNolty, minister for everything, is among the more memorable - obnoxious and bigoted, awkward and incoherent, the way Queenslanders like their government representatives (they mistake it for honesty). He was a lot like that character that Barry Humphries plays - in the pastel suit, with the sauce stains down his lapel. Very funny, but tragic for the resemblance to current political figures (see Barnaby Joyce). Being only a recent arrival in the new Brisbane, a lot of the references to the old town went over my head, but I know that Queensland was always regarded as redneck territory by my Dad's generation in Sydney. Still, it's surprising how well the story of old Queensland translated into a slick noir production. Last Drinks is the only Andrew McGahan book that I haven't read, but I'm now resolved to track it down. Link: http://www.laboite.com.au/01_cms/details.asp?ID=68

1 Comments:

Blogger MadameBoffin said...

Redneck territory? *grumble, mutter, mutter* :)

1:15 am  

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