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written and devised by Barry Humphries

Dame Edna Everage Coalition/Mirvish Productions,

Royal Alexandra Theatre, Toronto

October 27-November 6, 2005

Toronto was spared Katrina, Rita and Wilma, but now Edna has hit packing gale-force winds of laughter.  The Royal Alex witnessed no loss of life or significant property damage, but those with fragile egos should be warned that sitting in the first three rows opens you to merciless public humiliation, or as Dame Edna calls it, “empowerment and healing”, at the hands of the famed Australian housewife turned gigastar, guru and psychic. 

Those who saw Dame Edna: The Royal Tour in 2000 will note certain repetitions--the late-comer joke, sympathy for the “paupers” in the upper balcony, the scathing critique of selected women’s appearance, meant, of course, in “the kindest possible way,” and cringeworthy onstage marriage counselling one hopes the once-happy couple will survive.

Yet, Back with a Vengeance does have new features, including psychic shoe-reading, and is a tighter, slicker show with snappier pacing of the audience interviews, song-and-dance numbers and Edna’s monologues about her son Kenny the “raving homeopath.”  It all climaxes in a deliriously funny playlet about Edna’s pre-stardom Australian homelife enacted by hapless audience members.  By the time of the final gladioli-waving group sing-along about grabbing life by the shaft, you will have seen the most hilarious show in Toronto this year.

©Christopher Hoile

Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2005-11-03.

Photo: Barry Humphries as Dame Edna. ©Lisa Maree Williams.