Review: Sparkling evening with an old friend

Are You Sitting Comfortably?

Elaine Harris, accompanied by Tony Magee

Directed by Bill Stephens

School of Arts Cafe, Queanbeyan

August 1-3 & 7-10 1996 at 8pm

by Peter Wilkins

Elaine Harris and guide dog Dori at ABC Bernie studios

WHAT better way to spend a cold and wintry night than sitting comfortably and well fed at the warm and congenial School of Arts Cafe in the company of that delightful doyenne of the airwaves, Elaine Harris?

The lavender Victoriana lampshade; the lovingly carved wooden bookends; the indoor aspidistra and an old rocking chair entice us into a vanishing world of drawing-room recital. Close your eyes and listen and you will discover in Harris’ chameleon-like mellifluousness a gallery of characters paraded with charm and whimsical flair.

From the poetry of Roger McGough to the haunting melody of Lloyd Webber’s Another Suitcase in Another Hall to the quicksilver wit of Flanders and Swan, Harris’ characters find a voice that ripples with mirth, responds with nostalgia and occasionally weeps a tear for all women who “long to be kept warm”.

From music hall to musical; from recitation to rendition, Harris, sensitively accompanied at the baby grand by the adroit Tony Magee, has her audience laughing with glee at the antics of Hilda and Janet ungluing the post office mail, or at Mrs Tetherton, that stately galleon, dancing bust to bust with “a wallflower who feels like a lemon”.

Meanwhile we sit comfortably with smiles that spread to laughter or dwindle to a tear for the lonely, loyal woman torn between her male friend and her ailing dad. Harris’ treasure trove of satire bears no malice.

This fireside soiree of story and song sparks with glowing embers, especially in the third act when Harris and Magee fuse their special talents in such Old Time classics as Have Some Madeira and a political bulletin that recalls the incisive satire of The Mavis Bramston Show.

Director Stephens, sure in his deft creation of elegance and style, could have included more duets earlier in the program to enrich the evening’s feast. This entertaining evening of mischievous wit sparkles with fulfilled promise.

First published in The Canberra Times, August 3, 1996