Brian Lipson Revives Galton Critique for Rising 2026

Brian Lipson's one-man show 'A Large Attendance In The Antechamber' returns for the Rising festival in Melbourne, running at Trades Hall until June 7, 2026. The meta-theatrical piece portrays Sir Francis Galton (1822–1911), the Victorian polymath who invented eugenics, weather maps, and rejected the power of prayer. First staged in Melbourne in 2000 and remounted multiple times until 2007, Lipson again dons Galton's mutton chop sideburns and period costume, performing in a small, cluttered box-like set he designed himself. The performance unfolds as a lecture where Galton addresses the audience, aware he is being impersonated, and expresses disdain for the actor. Lipson subverts the performance to reveal Galton's bigotry—discussing women's attractiveness, mocking African place names, and denigrating 'the Jewish type' (Lipson is Jewish). The show incorporates slapstick, bouffon, Victorian technologies, and audience interaction. Susie Dee directs, focusing the work within the constrictive set. The revival is timely amid Australian political rhetoric on migration and neo-Nazi activity, serving as a reminder of eugenics' dangers. It also offers a new generation a chance to see Lipson's nuanced performance of his 26-year-old production.