Review by Steve Bennett

In this loose play, originally presented at last year’s Melbourne Fringe, Grandfather Broadbent is an out-and-out, unreconstructed racist. He’s the sort of man who won’t allow oriental food into the house – and that includes pizza – and spends his evenings trading in dubious videos on eBay and exchanging offensive emails with strangers.

There’s no ambiguity in the character, no doubt that we are supposed to be laughing ironically at the stream of ignorant ideas and abusive terms he relentlessly spouts. And, let’s face it, there’s always comedy in hearing the most inappropriate things, no matter how wrong they are.

Problem is, once they introduce this ultra-prejudiced creation with a flourish of bigoted bile, Dave Bushell and Tommy Dassalo don’t quite know what to do with him.

So they come up with the idea that his drippy-hippy student grandson Cameron has been sent to stay with him, to cleanse the youngster of the sappy liberal ideas that get him into trouble. It’s the time-honoured odd couple set-up.

However, the characters are too thinly drawn to sustain any sort of plot, let alone the flimsy one constructed here, in which both sides of the political and generational divide battle a mayoral election. It’s a story so flimsy it requires a clumsy deus ex machina to get any sort of conclusion, in which Grandpa predictably realises the error of his ways.

Bushell and Dassalo, who are decent enough actors, seem to recognise the limits of their story, and often break out of it to explain themselves, or to offer self-contained routines such as a Letterman-style Top Ten ‘It’s OK to discriminate when…’ list.

Along the way, there are a smattering of very funny moments, most notably the satirical campaign adverts for Grandpa’s flag-wrapped racism full of every Australian cliché you can think of. The pair have also tracked down such bigoted old cartoons such as Bugs Bunny Nips The Nips and Tokyo Jokio, which make for fascinating viewing – even if they do detract from the goings-on on stage. But the biggest laughs still come from Grandpa and his pensionable cronies saying and doing the most inappropriate things – which might be funny, but isn’t a strong enough basis for an hour-long show.

Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
May 2006

Review date: 1 Jan 2006
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett