Dame Edna, eat your heart out.

Dame Edna Everage

Piers Lane

You couldn't find two performers more different than Barry Humphries and Piers Lane. Seeing both on the same weekend made for a stark contrast. On Saturday night, Humphries in "Dame Edna - Back With Vengeance" played at the Lyric Theatre. The following afternoon, Brisbane born but London based concert pianist Piers Lane performed next door at the Conservatorium Theatre.

Dame Edna's vengeance was exacting. No one was safe from Humphries' rapier sharp wit. To an overweight audience member returning to her seat, Edna called out, "Don't worry Colleen, let gravity do its work!". Even before the show had opened, Humphries told a local newspaper the best thing about Paris Hilton was that she gave hope to girls who aren't pretty!

On the night, the humour was both black and blue, tending to the burlesque side of vaudeville. The satiric one liners came thick and fast, the next one set up as soon as its predecessor had fallen. There was dancing and music, monologues and mayhem.

The audience were a motley crew: fans of Humphries and interested others it seemed. There weren't many very young people (most were of retirement village age with seat cushions and thermos flasks in hand) and I didn't spot any of the usual blue-rinsed, hoity-toity crowd who frequent the Queensland Performing Arts complex (QPAC) with their subscription tickets and beaded purses. Hard-boiled lolly wrapper crinkling lady wasn't there and neither was the bow tied whisker-scratching fat man. Perhaps the humour was too vulgar for them.

I found the show (especially Les Patterson) at times, unnecessarily distasteful and knew it would be. Still, nothing much shocks a zimble these days and I had wanted to see the show because Humphries' writing is very clever (especially in the Sandy Stone monologue). Humphries is also an icon of the Australian entertainment industry and I got the sense that this might have been his last run in Brisbane.

Piers Lane also gave a show to be remembered. I've heard him a few times before and often listen to his Cd's. He gave an all Chopin recital with two encores and roused a standing ovation.

If someone asked me how I would recognise Piers' playing, I would say from the absolutely clear pronunciation of Chopin's beautiful melody lines and from the depth of understanding of the music's layers and colours. He spoke to the audience before each work and then left for a deeply personal world of his own, beckoning, with absolute sincerity, us to follow.

Both men are top artists with everything completely sorted. Who is better? Although Humphries is the more celebrated, for a Brisbane audience, I'd have to say it is Piers Lane who is better. Whilst Barry Humphries played to us, Piers Lane played for us and I think there is a difference.