COMEDY FESTIVAL
PHILIP NITSCHKE: DICING WITH DEATH ★★1/2
Athenaeum Theatre, April 3
Euthanasia advocate Dr Philip Nitschke doing a show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival? Really? It's the weirdest idea since disgraced AFL manager Ricky Nixon tried to put the St Kilda schoolgirl affair behind him with an abortive career in stand-up.
Unlike Nixon's effort, Dicing With Death isn't a repulsive attempt to deflect blame. Quite the opposite. Nitschke is clearly a man of principle, who believes that the terminally ill should be able to control the method and circumstances of their deaths, and that physicians should not be prosecuted for helping them do so.
Nitschke's talent for humour pales in comparison to his gift for publicity – a sizeable and largely silver-haired audience attended his "suicide course" at the Athenaeum. Laughs were sparing, thanks to repetitive and somewhat overeager delivery.
After describing how he became interested in the ethics of end of life choicewe listened to enlightening anecdotes from the brief period in the 1990s when physician-assisted suicide was legal in the Northern Territory.
Then came the nitty-gritty. How to obtain Nembutal, the barbiturate used to put down animals, and drug of choice for those who opt for euthanasia. The options are a bit dicy. You can buy a one-way ticket to Switzerland. Or order it online from a Chinese supplier and hope the cops don't notice.
The solution Nitschke has come up with – a machine nicknamed 'Destiny' that emits pure nitrogen gas through nostril clips – isn't legal either, but Derryn Hinch came onstage to demonstrate it for us anyway. This encounter was, rather dully, not fatal. They expressed mutual respect, and the audience filed out to collect graduation certificates from the 'School of Suicide'.
No one died of laughter, but nor did the show make you want to go home and kill yourself. Rather, it was an hour of instructive talk on an important subject, punctuated by amateurish comedy.