William Shatner

11.09.2015 QPAC

William Shatner began his current Australian tour playing to a full house in Brisbane. Dubbed Shatner’s World … We Just Live In It, the show sees Shatner on stage, alone, for almost two hours. Direct from Broadway, the show was a smash there and it’s a smash here too.

A mural of a small part of the galaxy makes up the backdrop: we’re warned prior not to take photos and if you do sneak one … there’s to be no flash. You can understand why: the great man needs to concentrate … two hours is a bloody long time to be up there under the spotlight.

Shatner, who only fumbles for one word during the entire event (it was Cape Canaveral – if you’re interested) never misses a beat. His sole prop, apart from the big screen, is a large office chair. From the moment he hits the boards it’s like Denny Crane has walked into your living room. Most of us have been aware of Shatner’s booming baritone for a life time and he uses it to good effect here.

Apart from setting the night up by discussing his love of show business and the art of comic timing, the performance unravels in a linear fashion with Shatner dropping into to various episodes of his life to tell anecdotes that are largely funny, sometimes profound and occasionally moving.

As a child, Shatner wanted to be a star. The school play brought pretty girls, admiration from his peers and pride from his parents. Brought up in a duplex in Canada, Shatner discovered wanderlust via a borrowed motorbike. Next comes a car ride across America that sees him trying to deliver a rabbi to temple before sundown. The subtext of the whole night is Shatner’s ability to say “yes” when offered an opportunity and the need to embrace risk as he gets older.

Will he play Henry 5 in front of a full house as a young man with no rehearsal when Christopher Plummer falls ill – you bet he will. The die is cast.

Shatner’s stories take us through radio plays to the early days of live television, b-grade films and his break out moment as Captain Kirk on Star Trek. One story concerns him visiting NASA and then seeing the moon landing on a small TV in the woods. We won’t spoil the punchline here –  but it’s beautifully told. So is his encounter with the 800 pound Gorilla who puts one hand on Shatner’s arm and the other on his testicles.

The show runs the gamut of Shatner’s career from school plays to Boston Legal and his work as a recording artist. It’s laugh out loud funny. You’ll barely have time to check your watch before the much deserved standing ovation that ends the night. A class act, Shatner has the rare gift of holding an entire room spellbound with the art of a good story. Long may he run.

Sean Sennett