A wealth of mischief
DO you live in one of Hobart’s more expensive suburbs, scoffing champagne while the butler hand-peels your prawns? If so, look out — the writers of this year’s Bawdy Panto, Sleeping Booty, have you in their sights.
Now in its 15th year, the Bawdy Panto has become a popular annual event on Tasmania’s theatre calendar. It’s not exactly high art, more “naughty culture” full of rowdy cavorting, outrageous gags, desecrated songs and blokes in drag.
After the Bawdy Panto spent many years making jokes about suburbs north of Hobart’s famous “flannelette curtain”, Sleeping Booty takes aim at Sandy Bay and Battery Point. Producer Ben Armitage said it was high time the writers got to poke fun at the city’s better-off.
“The Bawdy Panto has a reputation of having fun with local issues of the day, and
Sleeping Booty is all about money,” he said. “In this year’s show, King Will and Queen Rebecca are trying to stop their daughter, Princess Taswagia, from playing poker machines after she is cursed by an evil family at her birth.
“What transpires from there is a farcical tale about greed, addiction and under-age drinking — it’s a very Tasmanian story!
“We also have a medley of songs that touches on the Battery Point boardwalk, unserviceable mortgages in Sandy Bay, and what goes on behind closed doors at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania.”
Featuring the usual Bawdy Panto questionable singing and poor dancing,
Sleeping Booty stars Andrew Casey, Richard Moore, Danielle Lipscombe, Sam Ikin and Sophie Tyrell, alongside Peter Gee and a veritable “who’s that?” of local theatre and media personalities.
Bawdy Pantos presents Sleeping Booty at the Theatre Royal from November 22-25, with shows at 8pm nightly. Tickets are $30, for bookings phone 6233 2299 or go to www.theatreroyal.com.au
This year’s Bawdy Panto will support Muscular Dystrophy Tasmania via its traditional mid-show meat tray raffle.