Dame Edna Everage is heading to Perth in February with her Eat, Pray, Laugh tour.
Dame Edna has announced that this will be her final tour ever. While on a short break in Sydney, Dame Edna called OUTinPerth editor Graeme Watson to talk about retirement, architecture, Enid Blyton and so many other things.
How are you going, what an honour to speak to you,
I’m going very well, I’m in Sydney in the moment, I’m just getting my breath back after a trip to New Zealand where I saw The Hobbit, because my Manager Barry Humphries is in it, there’s a bit of loyalty.
Have you got a verdict on it?
It’s spectacular! I’m convinced that Peter Jackson is a genius.
It’s a little sad that there are no more Hobbit books to make into films.
Have you ever read it?
It’s one of the first books I read.
Is it, well I never did, we weren’t exposed much to that much, it was Enid Blyton in my day.
I’ve read her as well,
I think she’s rather good, for a while there she was considered politically incorrect, but we do live in a puritanical age don’t we?
We do, I was actually talking about Enid Blyton with some friends just the other day, and we were asking why there isn’t a Magic Faraway Tree movie?
What a good idea, and you thought of it. Why not do a treatment on it.
Send it in?
Yes, engage a Director, and there – you have a project.
You’re coming to see us soon with your final tour.
Yes, my touring days are at an end, I’m so sick of going from one city to the next. I have a lovely time when I do it but it’s becoming quite arduous. So I’ve commenced a sort of downsizing. This isn’t to say that this show isn’t the best I’ve ever done. I’ve felt since I announced this tour was a farewell tour, it would absolutely have to be the best show I’ve ever done, and the critics tend to agree with me. We’ve done so well in Melbourne and Sydney but I said Perth is the judge. So here we come darling, it’ll be February which is not so far away.
And Perth will be the last show on the Australian tour?
I never miss out on Perth, I’ve been coming there since, well frankly the early 1960s.
What do you remember about Perth in the ‘60s?
Well the thing about Perth in the 1960s was it had some lovely buildings. In trying to be modern, you pulled them all down. There’s not a single building I remember admiring.
I’ve been away from Australia, but I’ve stopped looking at things and telling people about them because that’ll be the cue to destroy them, but there’s nothing left anyway. I’m in Sydney now and when I came up here as a young actress there were at least seven traditional theatres, rather like His Majesty’s. There are none now. You still have His Majesty’s, but Perth was not a big theatre town.
Well we still have His Majesty’s, but we’ve just knocked down The Playhouse.
Did you? What’s going there instead?
I’m not sure it’s owned by the Church.
Oh well it’ll be an office building.
We do have a new theatre too though; we have the State Theatre Centre, so the total number hasn’t changed.
I’ve always played at The Regal in Subiaco, which is a conversion from a cinema into a very successful theatre.
We have The Astor now as well which is also a cinema conversion.
Oh has it, well The Playhouse I have performed in, I will be sad about that. Then of course we now have what we used to call The Burswood.
Yes, it’s just had some rebranding.
Yes, Mr Packer, I knew his father – Kerry. He said to me once, “Edna, you know gambling destroys families and it’s a great vice,” and he said to me, “What’s a cosmetic thing we can do to it?” I said, “Call it Gaming.” Wasn’t that brilliant of me? – And now they have.
Have you spent much time inside a casino?
I’ve done shows in a casino and very much like the theatre facilities – but I’ve never gambled in my life. I gamble with my talent, and that’s a bit of a sure fire bet really! How is your magazine?
OUTinPerth, it’s doing very well – it’s a gay and lesbian magazine and we’ve recently gone all gloss, given it a new look.
Why is it gay AND lesbian?
Well it’s gay and lesbian and all the different parts of the spectrum of sexuality.
But gays and lesbians don’t always get on.
No, gays and lesbians sometimes have nothing in common.
Well I don’t think so, I know some of the people who organise the gay and lesbian Mardi Gras in Sydney and they said the worse thing they ever did was let the lesbians in, but that’s between us.
Well lesbians can be good at organising stuff; gay boys are good at making it look pretty.
I guess, so, but the sense of humour is not what we would wish it to be.
What are you going to be doing with your retirement?
Well when I finish this show, I have to take it to England, so I’ll be playing in the West End, and then to New York, I’ve already been to New York to talk to the Producer, so I’ll be on Broadway. They took a liking to me a few years ago, so I’ve been playing there regularly. I won a Tony award, if you recall. I just love going there, so that’ll keep me busy for a few more years.
That’s a bit like Cher’s final tour.
Don’t compare me with her, but especially don’t compare me with Johnny Farnham.
Thank you so much for bring able to talk to us today.
Oh it’s been a pleasure, do come and see my show!
Dame Edna says ‘Goodbye Possums’ in Barry Humphries Eat, Pray, Laugh!’ show at Crown Theatre, February 1-10, tickets through tiketek.com.au
