Review: EDINBURGH 2024: THE EMU WAR: A NEW MUSICAL, Pleasance Courtyard

“It’s not like you’re fighting another country. You’re fighting emus”

The Emu War: A New Musical, written by Lotte Pearl, tells the true story of the Great Emu War of 1932, in which the Australian military tried to stop emus from eating the crops of farmers using Lewis guns. These efforts were unsuccessful and seen as a failure, as the emus continued to destroy crops after only 986 of them were killed during the month-long “battle.”

In this show, six performers take on the roles of both humans and emus and are accompanied by two musicians, one dressed as a farmer and the other dressed as an emu, sitting on opposite sides of the stage.

Tom Brace-Jenkins and Violet Morris play two war veterans, Steve and Greg respectively, who are now living on a patch of land given to them by the government, growing wheat in order to make money. The pair reach out to the government for help, and their prayers are answered by Defense Minister Sr George Pearce (Lotte Pearl), the man who gave the orders to fight the emus. Pearl portrays Pearce as power-hungry and lacking both tact and intelligence, constantly getting the name of his assistant wrong and only doing what he thinks will keep him in power.

A highlight of the show is Pearl singing what is essentially the villain’s song of the musical, with Pearl portraying Pearce as absolutely unhinged, ready to destroy all of the emus “for Australia.” 

Alyssa Thabisile Sibanda is Pearce’s assistant and also plays minor roles, including an emu who is caught in the crossfire of the war. She is the voice of reason as Pearce’s assistant and also provides some fantastic vocals throughout the show as a member of the ensemble. Lili Mohammad plays a bloodthirsty military man, Major Meredith, who is enthusiastic about shooting as many emus as possible but soon has a change of heart, going from wanting to use the emus as weapons to wanting to become an emu himself, declaring, “Emus are greater than men.” 

Spike Maxwell, who is also the choreographer for the show, takes on many of the smaller parts, including Steve’s deceased love interest, William, who inspired his dream to open up a bakery after the show. Maxwell is also a highlight when portraying some of the emus in the war, not afraid to bite back at the Australians. In a similar style to Operation Mincemeat, many roles are gender swapped with no explanation, blurring the lines between history and fiction in a way that could have been interesting to explore but isn’t touched upon much.

Maxwell’s choreography is fantastic, especially during the song about the army of emus as the cast jumps between playing humans and emus and at another moment in which the emus dance to Swan Lake. Unfortunately, even with great performers and slick choreography, the show struggled to really capture my interest, with many of the songs being repetitive and having too many of the performers singing over one another, making it difficult to understand the lyrics. While Morris has a lovely voice, she has a tendency to over-stylise when singing, adding to the difficulty in understanding what she is saying. 

Ultimately, The Emu War: A New Musical is a show with an interesting concept, but it tries to put too many things into seventy minutes, leading to rushed plotlines and undeveloped characters. With some work, it could become a great piece on the Emu War with some fresh perspectives on queerness and gender roles in the 1930s.

The Emu War: A New Musical ran until 25 August at Pleasance Courtyard, Pleasance Two.

Photo Credit: Ed Felton

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