Dame Edna Returns to Eat, Pray, Laugh
Barry Humphries bids farewell at Festival Theatre next November
By Thom Dibdin
Dame Edna Everage, the “housewife superstar” is to return to Edinburgh for a final fling in November 2013, as part of Barry Humphries farewell world tour.
Humphries’ Eat Pray Laugh! will open in the UK in Milton Keynes in late October, then play Cardiff before coming to Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre, running Tuesday 5th to Saturday 9th November.
The show will then transfer to London for a West End season over Christmas 2013.
Dame Edna was born Edna May Beazley in Wagga Wagga, Australia. She first appeared on stage in Melbourne in 1955 as Mrs. Norm Everage, a drab, purple-rinsed housewife satirising Australian suburbia. After performing in London in the 1960s she adopted an increasingly outlandish wardrobe and grew in stature and popularity.
Following film appearances and an elevation to damehood in the 1970s, she became known as “Housewife and Superstar”, then “Megastar” and finally “Gigastar”.
Her television credits include the legendary UK special A Night on Mt. Edna as well as her own innovative chat show The Dame Edna Experience.
Just a bit of foreplay…
The 78 year-old Humphries, who was awarded the CBE in 2007 for “services to entertainment”, announced in March that he would be retiring his most famous alter-ego, Dame Edna, from touring. “Edna will crop up on television I guess but not in a live show,” he told the Sunday Telegraph.
Act One of Eat Pray Laugh! will see the return of Humphries’ other alter egos: the gentle, grandfatherly Sandy Stone and the inebriated cultural attaché Sir Les Patterson.
But, according to Dame Edna, this serves as “just a bit of foreplay really before I make an orgasmic appearance in Act Two.
“You will see me at the height of my powers, taking you on a wonderful spiritual journey you’ll never forget. I’m not saying my show will heal you, but you’ll certainly leave the theatre feeling considerably better for the experience.”
Surrounded by spectacular sets and dancers, Dame Edna promises to “empower” audiences as she meditates on the big issues of gender, ethnicity and climate change.
Humphries has already taken his final bow to audiences in Australia where, due to extraordinary demand for tickets to see the iconic performer, satirist, artist and comedian, further performances were added across the tour.
This brand new show is directed by award-winning Australian theatre director Simon Phillips, who directed the original Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Design is by Tony Award-winning Brian Thomson, who designed the original Australian and London productions of Jesus Christ Superstar and The Rocky Horror Show, as well as the closing ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games.
Tickets for the Edinburgh shows go on sale to Friends of the Festival Theatre next Monday, 10 December, and on general sale from Monday 17 December. Online and in-person bookings open at 10am on both days, with phone bookings being taken from 11am.
Details on the Festival Theatre website: www.edtheatres.com
2013 Tour
Wed 23 – Sat 26 October 2013 | Milton Keynes Milton Keynes Theatre |
0844 871 7652 | Book online |
Wed 30 October – Sat 2 November 2013 | Cardiff Wales Millenium Centre |
029 2063 6464 | Book online |
Tue 5 – Sat 9 November 2013 | Edinburgh Festival Theatre |
0131 529 6000 | Book online |
2014 Tour
Tue 21 – Sat 25 January 2014 | Newcastle Theatre Royal |
08448 11 21 21 | Book online |
Tue 28 January – Sat 1 February 2014 | Southampton The Mayflower |
02380 711811 | Book online * |
Tue 4 – Sat 8 February 2014 | Norwich Theatre Royal |
01603 63 00 00 | Book online ** |
Tue 11 – Sat 15 February 2014 | Glasgow King’s Theatre |
0844 871 7648 | Book online |
Tue 18 – Sat 22 February 2014 | Bristol Hippodrome |
0844 871 3012 | Book online |
Tue 25 February – Sat 1 March 2014 | Leeds Grand Theatre |
0844 848 2700 | Book online |
Tue 4 – Sat 8 March 2014 | Manchester Opera House |
0844 871 3018 | Book online |
* On-sale 27 March
** On-sale 5 Sept
ENDS
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- It’s Tuesday, it must be Ednabrough! « Æ Annals of Edinburgh Stage | March 25, 2013
Updated listings to include 2014 dates.