Sculpture of Barry Humphries, aka, Dame Edna proposed to be installed outside of Her Majesty’s Theatre

Adelaide’s Her Majesty’s Theatre is already a major attraction but it could also be the place to honour an Australian icon with their own sculpture. Do you agree?

A sculpture memorialising one of Australia’s most colourful and comedic talents, Barry Humphries, aka, Dame Edna, aka, Sir Les Patterson is set to be installed outside of Her Majesty’s Theatre.

Over the course of his life and career, Humphries openly declared his love for the city of Adelaide and often said that Her Majesty’s Theatre was his favourite place in the world to perform.

At an Adelaide City Council meeting on Tuesday, Councillor Carmel Noon successfully moved a motion to install a life-size sculpture of him tipping his hat to guest as they enter the entrance of the theatre.

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She quoted Humphries from his own personal Ode to Adelaide in 2020 and said, “I’ll share with you a secret, and here’s the nitty-gritty, a southern town called Adelaide, is my favourite Aussie city.”

Comedian Barry Humphries at home at Her Majesty's Theatre in 1993.

On Thursday, she told the Advertiser that Humphries deserved the recognition for his love of the theatre and the advocacy work he did to keep the building maintained and further developed.

“He had a real feel for Adelaide and there are many memories of him inside Her Majesty’s,” she said.

“Barry Humphries was a patron of the very successful fund for the recent redevelopment of Her Majesty’s Theatre.

“He also championed other heritage projects in Adelaide, including Queens Theatre – the oldest theatre on the mainland.”

The sculpture is set to cost between $300,000 and $400,000 and Ms Noon said its funding will be part of a “staff investigation”.

In 2017, Mr Humphries successfully led a fundraiser to renovate and expand the theatre, and jokingly said that when he died, he would haunt the place forever.

He was widely known for performing as his two fictitious characters, Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson, but also held his own as a writer, an actor and a painter, with his unseen work currently on display at the Adelaide Festival Centre.

Dame Edna Everage. Picture: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Adelaide Festival Centre CEO and Artistic Director, Douglas Gautier said he looked forward to seeing what the Festival Centre could develop in collaboration with the Adelaide City Council.

“Barry Humphries loved performing in Adelaide and had a strong connection to Her Majesty’s Theatre, for which he was an ambassador in helping to raise funds for its redevelopment,” he said.

“Barry often described Her Majesty’s Theatre as his favourite theatre to perform in and has left a legacy to the arts both in Australia and overseas.

“We look forward to working with Adelaide City Council and exploring their proposal. “

In April this year, Mr Humphries died at the age of 89 after complications from hip surgery. His career spanned more than seven decades going back to 1953.

He first debuted his internationally renowned character Edna Everage at ‘Her Maj’ in 1965.

On Friday, the Sydney Opera House will hold a state funeral service for Mr Humphries, nine months after his death.