‘Uproariously funny. A triumph. Plainly going to be a big, big hit. ‘ Kevin Sadleir

‘ You will love every minute of it’ The Australian

’ Very, very funny’ Susan Bredow Daily Telegraph

‘ Rare moments of comedy that unite an audience in helpless laughter’ Sue Gough

‘ Belly laughs galore. The cast performs marvellously’ Alison Cotes Courier Mail

‘… a marvellous musical comedy’ Sunday Mail

Notes for actors on Dinkum Assorted by Linda Aronson

I have had the great delight of seeing many productions of Dinkum Assorted, both grand and modest. These are some comments that might be useful to you if you are thinking of staging the play.

1. Dinkum Assorted seems to be one of those rare creatures, an actor-friendly, and actor-proof play and, while the script calls for elaborate effects like a motorbike ridden across the stage and a huge industrial band oven that covers the length of the stage, it has also been very successfully produced with token props.
   
   The play can be staged with 12 actors rather than 15, but the play suffers if the cast is less than 11 because it limits the credibility and workability of the plot involving rivalry between the two sections of the factory.
   
   
2. Many productions successfully set the scene by dressing the theatre foyer as a bomb shelter and having members of the cast serve out tea and biscuits (as a pianist plays World War II hits) to the arriving audience.
   
   
3. Since the finale is really a play within a play, it can easily become too long and slow, thereby affecting the build towards climax of the play as a whole. Factor in some rehearsal time to deal with the possibility of pruning and focusing the finale so it doesn’t drag.
   
   
4. In the text, the Murrumbidgee Waltz is given in its entirety, as if the whole song is to be sung in the middle of the play. Only a few bars are necessary, and more can slow the play down.
   
   
5. The dummy scene always works extremely well, so it’s worth putting a lot into the choreography.
   
   
6. I have always loved the idea that at the end of the play ribbons and streamers are thrown at the audience. It does seem to work.