World War Bob

It’s winter in The Blue Mountains, it’s cold but if you look carefully near the first of The Three Sisters you can make out the silhouette of a lonely bugler as he raises his horn to his lips to send out the clarion call. The Empire is in need. All fit soldiers of the Queen are being asked to do their bit and Private Bob has never been one to shirk ‘doing his bits.’ Like a good Christian soldier he’s marching off to war, with a song in his heart and a can of Ultra Clutch hairspray in his knapsack, our Prince of Polyester, Private Bob Downe with his favourite femme fatale, Ms. Jane Markey, are off to entertain and amuse our boys overseas, giving new meaning to the term, ‘camp show.’

A quick digression: in Sydney there once was a club that was a restaurant that was a bar that was a theatre that once was a funeral parlour and it was wonderful. It was called Kinselas and it functioned as the unofficial Green Room for Sydney. This is where I first saw Mr. Trevorrow and Ms. Markey when they were performing as ‘The Globos’, the year was 1982; I have patiently waited twenty five years to see Ms. Markey, live, on stage again.

Ms. Markey is one of the great comic talents of Australia and it was mostly for her that I travelled the two hours to the Mountains. Did she disappoint – no siree Bob she did not. With a crooked smile and a knowing glance at the audience Ms. Markey had me – in fact she had me at Hello. As ‘Ida Downe’, she led us in a sing-a-long, that from now on every good show must have, just think how much more enjoyable ‘Sweeney Todd’ would be with a little audience participation.

What can one say that hasn’t already been said better by others about Bob Downe? He has the comic genius and timing of Humphries, he has the wit of Kennedy, (Graham not JFK), and the classic good looks of Barry Crocker… with better hair. If John Waters, (Hairspray), had been born in Australia then Bob Downe would have been his muse.

To dismiss Bob Downe as merely a spoof of every bad club performer you’ve ever seen is to miss the point. Bob is an over the top tribute to a time and era when things were simpler, when a holiday away was a trip in a caravan with Mum, Dad and Aunty Merle, or when ‘el dente’ was an Italian comic appearing, third on the bill, at the Murwillumbah RSL. Bob is to entertainment what Bakelite is to radio.

From the Crimea to Iraq in 75 minutes the publicity blurb said and it didn’t lie. No war is too small for this band of military minstrels. Armed only with an Oral B toothbrush and his very own special WMD’s, (Words of Musical Distraction), Private Bob and chanteuse Markey embark on an epic journey through the music of the wars. Pro war – anti war you name it they sing it and boy do they sing it well. It’s exhausting; from the sexually charged ‘Dance of the Seven Veils’, performed with great subtlety by Ms. Markey, to the soulful ‘Lilli Marlene’, sung by the very sweet Jeremy Hopkins, World War Bob is a hoot. An old fashioned cabaret/revue that’s proud of its roots.

This is the out of town tryout before WWB hits the big smoke of Adelaide. Sure there were problems; lighting cues that didn’t work and a microphone on the fritz but Mr. Trevorrow’s incredible professionalism and determination kept us laughing until the very last minute.

Conceived, written and directed by Mark Trevorrow, with Bill Harding, musical arrangements by John Thorn and choreography by Jack Webster. WWB is indeed the campest of camp shows.

‘World War Bob’ will be playing in Adelaide at The Playhouse, June 17 through June 20.