The Dismissal

Date/Time
Date(s) - 23 Oct 2021
2:00 PM - 4:15 PM

Location
Canberra Theatre Centre Playhouse


Open and App Captioned Performance

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.

Fast forward to Canberra, 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.

A co-production with independent music theatre powerhouse Squabbalogic, 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.

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.

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