Centrelink is the institution that everyone loves to hate. A team from Adelaide have decided to help us see the funny side of the welfare system by creating a musical about it. Written by Adam Willson, Centrelink The Musical has already wowed crowds at last year’s Adelaide Fringe and now makes its Melbourne debut.
In the Director’s notes and the advertising, the shows’ creators claim not to be making political statements. They did manage to bring up issues about the human side of welfare, the inherent idiosyncrasies and some of the injustices of the system. The cast of characters consisted of all the stereotypical profiles of Centrelink patrons (the struggling artist, the bludging bogan, the single mum and the disabled) but each were given a decent amount of depth so that empathy could be established.
The majority of the jokes were aimed at the system (mostly through bogan Gary’s constant diatribes about how disgraceful things are) rather than at easy targets such as these characters. A number of punters were laughing a great deal more than others; possibly current Centrelink patrons themselves who could relate better than those whose experience was limited or dated. As a form of balance there was a segment about how the system was better in the old days to provide some comical nostaglia. A great deal of the humour was derived from the eccentric behaviour of the staff member Janine, providing the surreal component of the show. An interesting decision to end the show involved a deliberately dodgy joke complete with wacky sound effect.
Either due to opening night technical glitches or a deliberate part of the show, the songs were pre empted by a change in lighting. Each character was given their turn in the musical spotlight to tell their story of how they came to be in the queue, with the others joining in as back up. The songs ranged from highly comical to rather poignant, giving punters a nice range. Even Janine got to belt out a number about her bizarre dreams including a surprising costume change. The theme song “Queue Up To Cash Up” bookended the show, guaranteeing that it will stay in your head for days.
All the cast belted out the tunes with gusto with most having strong voices, Janine suffered from slightly wavering vocals but it didn’t detract from her loopy persona, perhaps adding to her unhinged qualities. Snappy choreography ensured plenty of colour and movement as an accompaniment to the music.
Centrelink the Musical was fun show that kept the punters laughing and humming throughout. A wonderful piece of comedic musical theatre.
For more info and booking details go to the Melbourne Fringe Festival website