Professional Documents
Culture Documents
When Grahame Bond mentioned that his “imaginary family” was about a “bizarre childhood,” and a
“chaotic” period of schooling, and a “ridiculous” University education in Architecture during the
“sexual” revolution; I thought...well hey, this was something I can relate to!? But to my bitter
disappointment :( that just wasn’t the case. So here’s a ‘heads up’ to all those “survivors” out there,
you know the ones I’m talking about... “bizarre” childhood people turning into “pyschos” and
“sociopaths” probably creating havoc as a public servant...you know the ones (I can see some of you
nodding in the back)...frankly, it’s probably not as “traumatic” as yours! But to all the other public
servants...including the ones from Department of “Education...it’s suitable for the Canberra
audience.
The question Grahame poses to us in his performance is: “What made a boy from a straight-laced,
working class family end up earning a living wearing a frock, a fat suit and a gold boxing glove on
national television?” Well, I’m proud to say I can tell you that Grahame and that is: “your
imagination.”
Oh, no, no. Not from making up “imaginary” friends to keep you company from all those years
because you’ve been left alone in your house all those nights, but from finding that link between
weirdest members of your family and the characters of your shows. You see, Mr Bond, I hate to say
this but you are a cruel, cruel man. You know why? It’s because you make profit from creating
characters out of family members with serious personality disorders (instead of trying to HELP them
or in most cases, avoid them). Now do you see what I’m talking about? You see, Mr Bond, you are a
dangerous man...and sooner or later, somebody’s gonna get hurt and that person might just might
be you.
Grahame’s show was like being invited into your friend’s dad’s place for a cuppa while you wait.
Even though you never get that cup of tea, what you do get is having really (really) long yarns about
his life overlooking an assortment of his momentos scattered across his place, coupled with him
doing a number of his memorable songs between subjects (with their subheadings screened across a
huge T.V. screen on the top right hand corner).
But for those who are avid fans of “Aunty Jack,” “ Kev Kavanagh” and “Flash Nick” along with his
“other’ popular characters, then his show is more to your liking –him recounting his anecdotes that
evolved his characters he became well-known for; and not (as I later realised) him playing out his
characters in a theatrical space (you get to see costumes but he doesn’t actually wear any of them);
or, recounting disturbing stories that could explained how Grahame could have been living with
“imaginary” family members his whole life; or, even (I know), how Grahame needed to make up
“imaginery” family members, like Aunty Jack and Flash Nick, to keep him company during his
“bizarre” childhood days. No, I regret to say it’s none of the above - just your typical Baby Boomer
recounting his “glory days” in a one-man show. But, as I’d said before, if you love his “Aunty Jack,”
then you’ll love this. It’s sort of like, the “making of Aunty-Jack and his other characters”
“performance piece.” Go and see it. It’s worth a look – it’s a satire (and pssst...it has a “happy”
ending).
But if you are NOT a fan of Grahame Bond’s characters (or didn’t even know they existed), then
perhaps this is not the show for you. No doubt, there are other things on during the Canberra
festival, which might be more to your fancy.