Spare a thought for those most affected by the change in the prime ministership this week. No, not the Liberal Party – the writers and performers of The Wharf Revue.
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The 15th edition of the satirical revue had been touring successfully and was just about to open its Canberra season. One of its creators, Phillip Scott, had a nap on Monday and awoke to the news that Malcolm Turnbull had replaced Tony Abbott.
Speaking between frantic rehearsals of new material on Tuesday before the opening night at the Playhouse he said, "My initial reaction was how it affected the show – which pieces needed to be changed and which didn't."
If he was relatively calm, it was because it was far from the first time he and colleagues Drew Forsythe and Jonathan Biggins, performing once again with Amanda Bishop, had faced such a challenge. Some years they have been performing in the middle of an election campaign or even on the night of an election.
Scott said: "In 2007 we announced John Howard had lost his seat from the stage."
Bishop added: "It was before social media – theatre broke the water."
Scott: "Before the Twitterati."
Bishop: "The Theatrati."
Scott said of the change, "We'd rather it didn't happen or that it happened in May when we were putting it together ... but you can't have everything."
And he said it was exciting to get up early to rewrite, galvanised by the possibilities. One of the sections that had to be rewritten was Les Liberales, a Les Miserables musical parody in which various Liberal Party figures like Turnbull and Julie Bishop comment on what's happened.
He said, "A lot of it was about Tony – it's not all about him now, it's about them now."
Bishop said her namesake was "like a cockroach, isn't she? They're survivors, adaptable – and definitely Julie is very adaptable."
Julie Bishop's song in this section would hint at her own ambition for the future, while Turnbull's celebrated the one he had finally achieved.
Scott said to mark 15 years of the revue, this year's edition is going to feature many favourite songs and sketches from earlier years – including The Phantom of the Opera with Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard and Bob Hawke and Paul Keating in a nursing home.
He said: "It will be put in context by recorded talking heads like an ABC retrospective."
Bishop – who's performed with the show for the past eight years – said this year's revue provided "an historic perspective of The Wharf Revue and even an historic perspective of Australian politics during the three gentlemen's reign".
The Wharf Revue is on at the Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre until September 26. More information and bookings: canberratheatrecentre.com.au or 62752700.
