COMEDY FESTIVAL
ASSISTED SUICIDE: THE MUSICAL ★★★
Liz Carr
Malthouse Theatre
Until April 9
In Dicing With Dr Death, euthanasia advocate Philip Nitschke tried his hand at stand-up at last year's Comedy Festival.
![Liz Carr is hoping her show sparks further debate about euthanasia laws.](/web/20170402142929im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/3/l/6/0/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gvbtbs.png/1491107001598.jpg)
This year, actor, comedian and disability activist Liz Carr (probably best known here for her work on the BBC's Silent Witness) puts an all-singing, all-dancing counterargument.
Carr describes Assisted Suicide: The Musical as a "TED talk with show tunes" and, if the musical theatre can be a bit amateurish, Carr's oratory is brilliant and persuasive. I thought I knew where I stood on the assisted suicide debate, but her fierce intelligence, erudition and sardonic wit left me much less certain.
![Carr's show may change your mind on euthanasia.](/web/20170402142929im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/9/5/t/w/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gvbtbs.png/1491107001598.jpg)
A vaudevillian opening number lightly mocks the liberal bandwagon Carr is up against, and the best song – a duet between Carr and the Pope – makes clear the bemusement this left-wing progressive feels at being surrounded by conservative allies.
It's a show that probes the rhetoric of "choice" in relation to suicide, exposes abuses in jurisdictions that have euthanasia laws, and reveals questionable tactics in the global "right to die" movement (including whitewashing "suicide" into less confronting euphemisms).
One strong objection Carr raises is that giving assisted suicide the imprimatur of law, society and the medical profession will force disabled people, especially those in pain, to live with an exit sign over their heads. An internal debate Carr has with her alter-ego reveals how she might avail herself of the "right to die" in a moment of weakness.
Any "right to die" could morph into something more sinister, she argues, at least until the right of marginalised groups to live with dignity is thoroughly secured.
Carr is a better debater, and much funnier, than Nitschke. We can only hope Premier Daniel Andrews, and other parliamentarians, accept her invitation to see the show ahead of the planned conscience vote on the issue.
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