Everyone says my grandmother had a dry wit.
I would say her wit was drier than a dead dingo’s donger, but being a New Yorker, it wouldn’t really fit.
It was always strange visiting this ultra-savvy intellectual at the nursing home – she stuck out from the knitting and cookie-baking brigade. I always felt slightly moronic – young and severely Australian – in her presence.
She had a knack of taking people aback when, as an octogenarian, she wanted to discuss Queer as Folk and The West Wing, or Jeff Buckley, or when folks were subject to her observant and sometimes sharp-edged quips.
But those who “got it” thought she was terrific.
At her funeral this week, I spent a lot of time trying to process her story and how a woman so ahead of her time ended up in 1960s Hobart.
So you can imagine my surprise when I walked into the Peacock Theatre, not really having done much pre-reading on the show, and was catapulted into my grandmother’s world.
Peanuts … !
How could I forget how much she’d loved Peanuts and Charlie Brown?
This sarcastic and clever comic strip, which originated in the 50s, delved with delight – and unashamedly ripped apart – ideas like personality, psychiatry and philosophy. Its six-year-old characters of Charlie, Lucy, Linus, Shroeder and the gang spouted highly-intellectual musings interspersed with childish ramblings.
Mainstage Theatre Company has done a great job with this subtle material that really has to be performed in the right way for audiences to “get it”.
Charlie Brown, our hopeless protagonist, can’t kick a football or fly a kite or get a girl to notice him. Lucy, resident psychiatrist at only 5 cents a therapy session, delves out as much cruelty as she does assistance.
Schroder is in love with Beethoven and “the arts”; Lucy is in love with Shroeder; and Snoopy is in love with life – until horrible little birds start drawing blood as he naps peacefully – and suddenly the world is a frightening and confronting place.
Did I mention this is a musical?
Ah, I’m sure that will send people away in droves – that word – “musical”. But the music is, and excuse me from using an Americanism here, pretty neat.
A slick band is positioned at the rear of the stage churning out an immaculate score. Charlie Brown tells Snoopy not to “make such a performance” out of dinner-time, and Snoopy responds with jazz hands, a top hat and tap dancing.
Some of the singing is also pretty fab. The ladies in this show – the “crabby” Lucy (Anna Kidd) and Charlie’s little sister Sally (Melanie Brown) are particularly vocally gifted. Also watch out for Sally’s excellent crucifixion of the educational system – a highlight.
I honestly couldn’t have imagined a better way to finish off my goodbyes to my grandmother than to see this show.
I just wish she could have been there too.
You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown is playing at the Peacock Theatre until November 2. Tickets on sale through bit.ly/charliebrownhobart or at Centertainment in Elizabeth Mall.
• Don’t miss the Pop-Up Performance, Salamanca Market TODAY, 11am. All the details HERE
Amber Wilson
