Hello Possums! Dame Edna joins King’s Head celebrity backers

Published: 17th June, 2011
by PETER GRUNER

HOUSEWIFE superstar Dame Edna Everage (aka comic Barry Humphries) has become a patron of Islington’s King’s Head theatre.

Mr Humphries, who lives in West Hampstead, joins a list of celebrities such as actress Joanna Lumley and director Sir Jonathan Miller who support the work of the popular pub theatre.    

The comedian’s involvement in the Upper Street theatre comes with the launch of its latest production, Cosi, an Australian black comedy.  

The play, which deals with madness, war and opera, is directed by the theatre’s artistic director, also an Australian, Adam Spreadbury-Maher.

Mr Spreadbury-Maher said: “It’s great that Barry has come on-board. He’s a great fan of Cosi, which is a landmark play in Australia and has been performed there many times.

“He’s a great believer in the work we are doing at the King’s Head. I expect he’ll be along to one of the performances if he’s in town.”   

The semi-autobiographical play by Louis Nowra takes place in a 1970 Melbourne asylum with a motley cast of patients who rehearse and perform Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte while Vietnam War protests rage outside. It charts the story of a graduate directing an opera for the first time against the pressures of joining the protest movement, clashing notions of fidelity and free love and managing an array of psychological disorders.

Mr Humphries initially became interested in Mr Spreadbury-Maher’s  work earlier this year with his successful Tennessee Williams world premiers, two of the final productions at The Cock Tavern Theatre in Kilburn where they struck up a friendship.

Cosi runs until July 13. Box office: 0207 478 0160.