Well folks, sad as it may be, Dimboola is almost at an end.

With only one week of the production remaining, we are well and truly on thehome stretch.

But bugger me, what a final stretch it will be, with 8 performances remaining in just 5 days!

Needless to say, we are all in for a mammoth week and are relishing the two days respite we have had away from the whirlwind of our wedding HQ. The season so far has gone better than anyone had imagined with all performances sold out and with waiting lists in the double digits! La Mama even went as far as offering us an unprecedented weeks extension which we regretfully had to cut down into a smattering of extra matinees due to cast availability. And all this before most major PR had even hit other potential audience members! 

I was going to go out on a limb here and credit my own spectacular pulling power for the massive public interest in the show so far, but it seems that booking enquiries have spiked quite considerably after last weeks blog entry. This leads me to believe that it may be less about my own performance and more about people hoping to see Juliana faceplant or Jason swallow his own spew. Or it could be that its a great script with a great ensemble led by a great director and a great crew in a great venue with a great tradition. In any case the jury is still out, so you can all make up your own minds as to why the show has done so well (extra points if you think its cos of me)! 

While the public response to bookings has been overwhelming to say the least, the audience response to the performances has been phenomenal! Never before have I seen audience members get so immersed into the world of the play they have come to see. From the moment that they are lulled into the courtyard with a glass of sherry and accosted by the charmingly cheeky characters of the show, the audiences are pulled arse first into the unpredictable world of Dimboola. And as a result, they are embracing the chance to be a part of the wedding reception whether it be as a Dimboola local, a bride or groom’s extended family member, interstate blow in or friend of the family! 

It is amazing to see the extent that the audience are willing to make the transformation into Dimboola with us! Now, I do know that statistically there is probably a small percentage of audience members who are legally insane and most likely truly do believe that they are actually at a wedding, but that still leaves a large percentage who have simply decided to allow themselves to be swept up in the action and become a part of the play. Fantastic

Over the past couple of weeks we have had some amazing audiences, with some people arriving with their own home made confetti, others dressed up in full formal wedding attire, and some who have arrived prepared with their own self-created character and background that interrelated with the play. I’ll let you decide who the crazy ones out of that melange are! The funny thing is, though, that with everyone in the audience getting stuck into the world of the play, it ends up being the (few) stick in the mud audience members who refuse to go along with the Dimboola magic who appear crazy, in relation to all of the nuts surrounding them! 

Speaking of nuts, I cannot go any further without acknowledging the bizarre efforts of one man who on his second night at the play obviously thought he was now an official part of the action, yelling out at various cast members throughout the play. Phil Roberts artfully dealt with this impostor by introducing him as the Premier of Queensland, to the applause and cheers from the other wedding guests! We thought that this had shut him up until during the wedding speeches, he chose to read a bizarre telegram of his own to the stunned wedding couple! Mmmm nuts . . . . gotta love ‘em! He didn’t bring a wedding gift either time he came, however. Poor for for a Premier really!

It’s just another example of the unpredictability of a show like Dimboola. And we were again reminded of this the other night when Dylan Lloyd chose to take a leaf out of Juliana’s How to stack spectacularly book and decided to fall directly onto the sharpened corner of a chair rather than the soft wooden floor. You wouldn’t have known it from his performance (obviously he falls over a lot as demonstrated by the ease in which he disguised his discomfort) but once outside and away from the audience’s prying eyes, Dylan lifted his shirt to reveal a nasty gash across his chest. Though slightly harder to see through the amazon that is Dylan’s chest hair, it bruised up nicely over the next few days, displaying a volley of resplendent blues, greens and purples!

And so as this remarkable circus that is Dimboola draws to a close, I find myself growing moist at the thought of it ending. I can only hope that my own wedding will be as remarkable, though perhaps with less up-chuck and fisticuffs! It seems only appropriate now that I list all of the things that I will miss once Dimboola has come to a close:

- Being able to drink free beer every night. Or rather what beer is left after the rest of the cast has pillaged each other’s supply.

- Being able to eat party sausage rolls, pies, lamingtons and meringues for dinner every night without any repercussions from my girlfriend. Sorry, honey, I know its unhealthy but sometimes you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do for your craft!

- Watching the frightened look on Natasha’s face every night as she waits in fear at the possibility that tonight Jason might just spew on her head! Priceless!

- The feeling of cream deep in my nasal cavities, and the smell of it for days to come.

- Watching Juliana’s eyes water as she skulls an entire pot of beer in a matter of seconds, generally followed by a pearler of a burp and the possibility of an up-chuck of her own one day!

- Seeing the front tables of audience members get covered in that sexy film of Phil-spit throughout the performance, and their realization that there is nowhere they can go to escape it!

- Watching the incomparable David Macrae throw all of his 35 Kilo body at Ray Hare with reckless abandon. As well as marveling night after night at how Dave can fall flat on his arse and still manage not to spill his beer! (I’ll have to get him to teach me how to do that one!)

- The terrified look on audience members faces as they are yanked onto the dancefloor by Renee and Dylan, where anything can and most likely will happen, but the possibility of a grope is a certainty!

- The possibility of seeing Juliana faceplant again. Once it seems, is never enough.

- The unpredictable belches from the most unlikely of people, such as M.T., Liz, and Natasha. And of course Robynne Kelly’s bulldog burps that have yet to be topped by anyone! I’m still waiting for one from Margaret Younger, I know there’s a corker in there somewhere!

- Watching as Dylan’s war-wound bruises and matures through all the colours of the rainbow.

- Trying to stay in character and not to piss myself at the hilarity of everyone’s individual additions to the action such as Dan McBurnie’s foam faced impression of the Reverend Potts!

- Hooning off in our beautiful old wedding car and, still in character, harassing the passers by  as we bunny-hop down Lygon Street 

Oh how the list could go on . . . . and on . . . . and on . . . . 

Until next time my little bloggeroo’s, stay tuned for the next installment of:

Well, actually there may not be a next time. I think there may still be one more wrap up blog to go, but there is the very real possibility that I am wrong. I’m sure ASOL (he he, you know what that sounds like) probably want to shut down this smut filled rambling mess as soon as possible, but we’ll see . . . .

“DIMBOOLA: The Matrimonial Makings Of A Monster.”

=Lachlan - does anyone else smell cream, or is it just me?  - MacLeod=

Directors Assistant/Assistants Director.

Fly On The Wall Theatre.