Peninsula Theatre Company'Hilarious New Production of Manly Mates by Frank Hatherley

Seti in 1972, Manly Mates stars the most famously controversial NSW Premier of them all, Bob Askin. In this terrific comedy by Frank Hatherley, Bob Askin leads a team of his outrageous mates, movers and business identities. There's the Police Commissioner from Fairlight, the property-developing Manly Councillor, the Dee Why bookie, the Surry Hills bagman, the would-be North Shore politician, the poker machine salesman from Chicago, and Bob's sherry-drinking wife Mollie. They all meet at the beautiful Hotel Manly, in an upstairs bar overlooking the ferry wharf, where Bob's regular summer Saturday is destined to spin out of control under the watchful eye of an undercover reporter from that crusading journal `The Manly Daily'. Frank Hatherley's Manly Mates premiered in 2003 and in 2005 had a season at the New Theatre where Manly Mayor Peter McDonald saw it and declared: “What a great night out; I was rolling in the aisles. It captured the colourful days of NSW politics.” Hatherley's other plays for PTC include the auction farce Open For Inspection (1999) and a biographical drama My Henry Lawson (2002). Robin William Askin was the Liberal member for Collaroy from 1950 until his retirement in 1975. He lived with his wife Mollie in Bower Street, Manly. It is generally agreed that, as Premier from 1965, he and his Police Commissioner took regular bribes from crime bosses. He sold knighthoods. He took kicktbacks from developers, businessmen and superannuation funds. He "gave organised crime its start in Australia". Famously, when faced with Vietnam War demonstrators he instructed his chauffeur to "drive over the bastards". He nominated himself for a knighthood in 1972. For years Bob would drop into the now-demolished Hotel Manly on Saturday mornings for a drink with local mates and there, in Frank Hatherley's outrageous comedy, we watch our hero juggle the conflicting demands of bookies, bagmen, visiting Mafia, developers, politicians, journalists and his stridently anti-communist wife. Performances: Wednesday to Saturdays 8pm & Sundays 2.30pm Bookings Name: Bookings Bookings Phone Number: 0418 457 516 Ticket Prices: Prices: Adults $25 | Concession $18 | Groups 10+ $15 Website: www.manlymates.com Address: Cnr Iluka Avenue & Collingwood Street, Manly