Australian Stage Online - DIMBOOLA: The Matrimonial Makings Of A Monster

Well partygoers, the rambunctious reign of Dimboola has come to an end.

Thats right, the wedding is over. The cake is ruined. The guestshave all left. Father O’shea is passed out in a wheely bin out the back, and the wedding couple are steaming their way along the highway to the Grampians.

After 21 performances, three kegs, over 100 dreadful singalongs, and more party pies and sausage rolls than you could ever hope to poke a stick at, we have closed the doors on this landmark production.

It has been an amazing season, and I must say that I will be sad to see the arse end of it!

As with all productions, we have had our ups and downs, from the saga of the missing bridal car, awol beer and broken kegs, cast drop outs and bridal face-plants, to the magic of opening night, rave reviews and a sell-out season with bumper waiting lists each night. But despite the ebbs and flows of the shambled debauchery that was Dimboola, the final result has been a true testament to the amazing work put in by our amazing cast, director, crew and production team. All the stand out work that the Dimboola team have put in, has contributed to the phenomenal success of this show, allowing it to fulfill the great expectations that were held for it and also becoming one of the most successful shows in this year’s comedy festival to boot!

It would be no exaggeration to say that casting this show was an absolute bastard. With an incomplete cast up to ten days out from opening night, I must admit having grave concerns for the project. But it seems we must have someone on the cast going to mass, burning patchouli, playing ouija or sacrificing virgins because someone or something was definitely smiling down on us as everything came together just in time. And now we all agree that we wouldn’t have it any other way. After the various disasters in casting this show, we ended up with a stellar ensemble that fate it seemed had created. Everyone did such amazing jobs with their individual characters and I will miss being around such an amazing, warm, crude and absolutely stark raving bonkers group of people.

And so, to wrap up:

Juliana - The perfect bride for the not so perfect wedding. With the strength and determination to head-but the floor for looking up her dress and then carry on through the rest of the two shows that day with a mighty swollen lip, this gal’s got the stuff! Drawing on her inner bogan Jules made Reen a bride to be reckoned with and a wife no man could refuse!

David M - After coming in late in the game, Dave has taken Darkie in full stride. David has an amazing ability to appear like a harmlessly lovable stick insect one minute, and a raging torrent of hellfire the next. Who else would have the balls to call Ray Hare a “goat riding mason” to his face!?

M.T. - Oh Lordie, you’ve just gotta love her. The mother hen to her flock of wee chickadees, M.T. continues to surprise me with her sparkling wit, unexpected gastric functions and deviously funny potty mouth! I am yet to prove her identity to really be that of Shirley Temple, but that is one quest that I will pursue to my dying day. I think I can speak for all of the cast and crew when I say that we will also all miss her ample bosom.

Ray - Ray, Ray, what can I say. You’ve been the greatest father to me during this run! You really remind me of my own father and what he will be like at your age. Ray also came in late in the game, ten days out from opening if my calculations are correct. He has done amazingly well and there is no-one else I would have preferred to walk me down the aisle. And the photo’s, having snapped away at every performance in character as the proud father, Knocka, Ray now has an entire photo album of wedding pics that are just gold!

Margaret - The perfect mother to the perfect father! Quiet as a mouse and one of the most genuinely sincere and warm individuals I have ever met. Marg personified the role of Florrie, delivering each performance with pin point accuracy and ease! Each night she made me feel so happy as she stared into my eyes filled with pride and happiness at Morrie’s marriage!

Jason - I don’t think anyone in the audience, or even the cast for that matter ever really knew if you were playing rat-arsed, or just really were rat-arsed! Jase also came in late in production and just obliterated the character of the priest, making Father O’Shea one of the craziest, funniest and most outrageous characters I have seen in years! Plus, the up-chuck swallowing still brings a tear to my eye every time I think of it! Thanks Jase!

Dylan - Dyl was the third in a long line of Dangles who were just not quite right. But coming in very late in the game indeed, Dylan managed to play the drunken misogynistic yobbo with remarkable ease. Funny that. Either he’s a bloody good actor, or . . . . We’ll all miss watching his gnarly bruise change through all those pretty colours each day!

Renee - Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, what a laugh! Renee has been absolutely hilarious as the high-haired Shirl. She has been a pleasure to work with and has done an absolutely stellar job. Who would have known she could play bogan so well! Watching her hair get higher and higher every performance was one of my greatest pleasures during the season!

Natasha - Ah, my little midget friend. It can be very difficult playing young, and not a lot of people can do it effectively. Natasha, thank Jew, is one of those people who do it amazingly well and with the ease and grace of a true professional. Everyone I know who has seen the play, commented on how much they enjoyed watching Astrid and the child-like stupidly amusing things she was constantly doing. Might want to brush up on the tap routine though, just a thought.

Phil - For a man who appears to have come straight from a raging house-party in Preston, every single performance, I have consistently been amazed by the gusto in which he has leapt into the shoes of Dimboola’s ringleader Horrie, each and every night. It has been a joy and a privilege watching Phil work, and watching him coat the audience in his sexy Phil-spit. After such a successful season, Phil has technically made-out with over 150 people. If you were near the front at one of our performances and caught some Phil-spit in your mouth, this means YOU!

Liz - Super-mum and amazing actor as well, Liz took to Mavis like a duck out of water. Many a time I had to stop myself from laughing at her incredibly funny, and may I say a little close to the bone sometimes, performances. Liz had done a great job and has been an absolute riot to have around during the production. Such stories, such mystique, such a dirty mouth!

Robynne - This woman is amazing. I can’t seem to put my finger on what it is but she’s got something about her that you just can’t not like! She is hilarious, endearing, sincere, and an absolute fruit-loop who comes out with some of the funnies and most inappropriate lines I have ever heard! And I’ve been around, baby! Robynne’s been a treasure to work with and can burp like no-one I have ever met. She is now my burping sensei, who I hope will teach me all I can learn on the ancient art of the belch!

David F - Who? Oh, that guy, yeah I forgot he was in it. David is an enigma, and there was many a time during the season that I would literally forget he was even in the play until he would enter onstage mid-performance! This was due to the fact that Dave would sneak in once we had started and sneak out before we had finished. Like a fart in the breeze, intangible yet intriguing, so is David Forster!

Dan - My man Dan has brought his usual laid back, spaced out vibe to Dimboola and it has been great to work with him again. It was a source of constant amusement for me to see what inappropriate jokes and comments he would come out with from night to night! His impersonation of the Reverent Potts and his army crawling underneath the audience members for no apparent reason will remain with me fondly!

Chris - The other half of Dan’s debauched duo, Chris played the wacked out Bayonet with a plomb. The Zany aspects of Bayonet reminded me distinctly of the zany aspects of Chris to the point where it was had to tell where Bayonet ended and Chris began! I have to say here that I will also be stealing some of the amazing dance moves he invented for his song with Mutton to use in my own drunken dance-offs!

Mark & Troy - From Dangles to directors assistant and waiter, Mark has been like a chameleon during this season, working his butt off in the process. Troy has also worked hard as both waiter and designated driver, even if he only mastered the Valliant’s gearbox in the last couple of shows! Well done boys!

Keiran - Your friend in the fridge, Keiran has worked his ass to the bone as stage manager on this production. As well as stage managing he has been a waiter, driver, and an impromptu drummer in the band! He has been under incredible pressure and has always come out of it with a cheeky grin and a joke or ten. This boy is gonna go places, mark my words . . . more specifically, New Zealand, so have fun Keiran, we’ll see you when you get back!

Lawrence, Joel and Noddy - Well not so much Noddy, cos lets face it, he piked out after the first few performances. Life is hard in a band in Dimboola. Seriously though Lawrence and his pile drivers have done a fantastic job in such a short space of time and we can all agree the show wouldn’t have been the same without them! It would have been a lot quieter!

Dayna - From transforming La Mama back to its original 1969 facade, to providing a fussy cast of over 14 individual characters with their own unique costumes Dayna has done what some may have thought impossible! The fact that the show looked so amazing was in large part due to Dayna’s amazing ability to be doing ten things at once while thinking another ten through in her head. My hat is off to you Dayna! Literally!

Doug - Producer extraordinaire Doug Montgomery has again come through with the goods. From his disastrous dealings with shoddy mechanics trying to get us a car that works, to trying to teach Juliana and myself how to dance the light fandango, Doug has worked his fingers to the bone and still found time to cook us all a delicious BBQ! Montgomery you old dog, you’ve done it again!

Rob - Last but not least, this shoddy shanty of salubriously silly souls could not have navigated its way through the murky, meringue filled waters of Dimboola if it hadn’t been helmed by such an able seaman as our director Rob - Aaargh - Chuter! Rob has done a truly amazing job pulling everything together for this landmark production that has brought him back to his theatrical birthplace. Well done Rob! We can only hope that the work we have done here will help keep alive this amazing institution that is right now in jeopardy of being lost forever! Not if we can help it!

Lachlan - What can I say, this kid is truly amazing! I know for a fact that he has had a ball in this production, and that he will miss everyone involved dearly! He will miss the laughter, the tears, the sausage rolls, the writing of the blog, seeing the cast in their knickers, the smell of cream up his nose, the burping, the inappropriateness, the potty-mouthing and the amazing group of people that made his wedding such a beautiful day, and night, over and over again!

Of course, we must thank all of our sponsors for being brave enough to get behind such a rabble of crazy characters, as well as Australia Stage On-line for not shutting down these smut-filled ramblings long ago. And of course we must give a big thank you to La Mama for giving us a home and allowing us the opportunity to re-stage this amazing production!

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end, and so is the blog of Dimboola committed to dust, to be lost in the binary ether of cyberspace for all of eternity.