Joanna Lumley presents a stand-up show packed with career highlights, behind-the-scenes shenanigans, and tips to living a well-travelled life

I’m pondering with my partner Ben what parts of Western Australia the lovely Joanna Lumley might have ventured to before her live show on Saturday night at Perth’s Riverside Theatre. There were two days between the Adelaide and Perth gigs and I’m guessing a seasoned traveler like Lumley would have ducked into Monkey Mia to swim with our dolphins, or at least, ridden a camel at sunset in Broome. Now I’m picturing Lumley as Patsy in Absolutely Fabulous, cigarette hanging from the side of her mouth, bottle of Stoli banging up against the side of the camel’s hump. In my mind, the comical Joanna Lumley is not far from the more serious, world-travelling Joanna Lumley, which itself is not far from the British treasure and upstanding model Joanna Lumley. Gladly, audiences got to experience all three on stage on Saturday night.

There was no pretense before Lumley appeared on stage; no drum roll nor hyped-up intro, just a quick welcome and rapturous applause from the audience; rapture she appeared genuinely appreciative of.

Ever the excellent raconteur, Lumley dived right into travel talk – about how moving about has always been a part of human history and certainly a part of her family’s heritage.

From the get-go we’re hearing about great grandparents born on far apart continents, crisscrossing the world on tiny tin boats, meeting up, moving away, coming back together again, here, there, everywhere.

And just when the travel-is-in-the-blood narrative and vividly painted pictures might start to sound exaggerated, film footage is whipped out and thrown on screen: an effervescent aunt actually doing that thing Lumley said; a grandparent looking as resplendent in the vintage fashions as described.

Certainly, Lumley’s family is fortunate to have had the means and contacts to get around the globe as efficiently as they had (well, as efficiently as tiny tin boats go – which I’m sure were really ships) but it all comes across as well-documented and absolutely appreciated rather than privileged and taken for granted. It’s like when we’ve seen Joanna presenting her travel shows on the TV. She might have flown comfortably enough to far-flung heated or downbeat territories such as Persepolis to Tbilisi, Havana to Haiti, but once there, she unpacks just the one suitcase and chooses to live it like the locals do. No five-star accommodation for this ardent traveler (well, maybe one in New Delhi), but genuine on-the-ground, in-a-tiny-tent, no-toilet-and-half-a-wash-basin type travel. And seeing that on the telly sure beats the contrived cosy and comfy Getaway-type programs. It’s also more exciting to hear the stories of tougher travelling and rougher resting ground when Lumley is relaying these on stage.

While the ever-articulate storyteller fills most of her two hours under the spotlight with travel talk, she is not afraid to also delve into the more hilarious or glamorous aspects of her charmed life.

There are stories of behind-the-scenes antics of her brilliant modelling career in the 1960s, and of course highlights from her most well-known appearances as Patsy Stone in Absolutely Fabulous. Indeed, bits of Patsy occasionally dip into Joanna’s stage speak, her dialogue peppered with ‘darlings’, ‘sweeties’ and often the word ‘fabulous’ itself.

That’s the true beauty of Joanna Lumley – while she has indeed been ordained as a Dame, she doesn’t take herself so seriously as to ever come across as stuffy – never in the least pretentious. It means seeing parts of her past self often weave their way into her storytelling so that the sum of it ends up like a tapestry of high society invitations and low life hijinks; glamorous settings in Russian spy films and dangerous run-ins with real-life Russian authorities; cunning bridging of classes and cultures and an innate ability to discern this brilliant human or human activity from that one.

The experience of seeing Joanna Lumley live, regaling her tales in travel and select highlights of her life, is as wonderful – if vicarious – an adventure as it is a celebrity-encountering thrill.

Like the start of the show, there is no patronising anecdote to end on, just a woman who has given her all for two hours, exiting to a standing ovation and deserved, rapturous applause.

And the audience is left feeling very happy having heard two hours of excellent storytelling from an accomplished artist and actress that has pretty much been there, done that, and lived through her share of travel heaven and hell to tell the tale.

Antonino Tati

Joanna Lumley’s ‘Me & My Travel’ tour rounds off in Sydney this week, performing Monday 21 and Wednesday 23 October at Sydney Darling Harbour Theatre, and Tuesday 22 October at the Sydney Opera House. More information, and tickets to the Darling Harbour Theatre shows, are available at teg.dainty.com.

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