| Absent Friends | ...An examination of solo performers who succeed in conjuring up a whole family, community or world of often wildly eccentric characters: Dame Edna Everage, with her family tales of husband Norm, daughter Valmai and sons Bruce and Kenneth, Lily Savage's various kith and kin; Cissie and Ada (aka Les Dawson and Roy Barraclough) gossiped endlessly about friends and acquaintances; Larry Grayson with Apricot Lil, SLACK ALICE and postman Pop-It-In Pete; and early radio comic Gillie Potter who dryly informed us of the goings-on in the village of Hogsnorton and its squire Lord Marshmallow.... |