"the best Australian musical of the century"
Jason Blake, Audrey Journal
Canberra, 11 November 1975. As Gough Whitlam delivers his iconic speech decrying his dismissal as Prime Minister, a mighty crowd of reporters throngs the steps of Parliament House. Chief amongst them, one of the 1970s most iconic larrikins, Norman Gunston.
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Fast forward to Sydney, 2021 and the Gold Logie winner and Wollongong’s favourite son returns, played by the hilarious Matthew Whittet, to narrate a rollicking, razor-sharp musical account of Australia’s great constitutional crisis. Fans of political satire will revel in this all singing, all dancing, all mud-slinging retelling of Canberra’s most controversial moment.
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The Dismissal revives the full rogues gallery of 70’s Australian politics: ambitious Whitlam, seductive Malcolm Fraser, duplicitous silver-fox Sir John Kerr, and even Her Majesty QEII as you’ve never seen her.
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The Dismissal is equal parts toe-tapping time travel and a nuanced commentary on Australia’s place in the world today. With unimpeachable wit and a cracking soundtrack, this world- premiere reckoning for the nation’s soul is set to be a sensational night out.
CONTENT ADVICE: Adult themes, coarse language, theatrical haze and strobe lighting