Editing Dame Edna Everage (section)

== Invention of the character ==
Barry Humphries was invited to join the fledgling [[Union Theatre Repertory Company]] early in 1955 and toured [[Victoria (Australia)|Victorian]] country towns performing ''[[Twelfth Night]]'', directed by [[Ray Lawler]]. On tour, Humphries invented Edna gradually as part of the entertainment for the actors during commutes between country towns. Humphries gradually developed a [[falsetto]] impersonation of a Melbourne housewife, imitating the [[Country Women's Association]] representatives who welcomed the troupe in each town. At Lawler's suggestion, Mrs Everage (later named Edna after Humphries' nanny) made her first appearance in a [[Melbourne University]]'s UTRC revue at the end of 1955, as the city prepared for the [[1956 Summer Olympics|1956 Olympic Games]]. The sketch involved a houseproud "average housewife" offering her [[Moonee Ponds]] home as an Olympic billet, [[wikt:spruik|spruiking]] her home as possessing "burgundy wall-to-wall carpets, [[lamington]] cakes and reindeers frosted on glass dining-room doors".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/the-clown-prince-of-suburbia/story-e6frg8n6-1111118780314 |first=Graeme|last=Blundell|title=Barry Humphries, the clown prince of suburbia|date=7 February 2009|work=The Australian}}</ref>

At this time the character was billed as "Mrs Norm Everage" (Humphries describing this name as "Everage as in 'average', husband Norm as in 'normal'")<ref>{{cite book|last=St. Pierre|first=Paul Matthew|title=A portrait of the artist as Australian: l'oeuvre bizarre de Barry Humphries|year=2004|publisher=McGill-Queen's Press|isbn=0-7735-2644-7|page=176}}</ref> and had none of the characteristic flamboyant wardrobe of later years.

His mother (whom the interviewer William Cook said "sounds like a frightful snob") was a major inspiration for Edna, although he denied it when she was alive to protect her feelings. Her first monologue in 1955 was about her "lovely home", reflecting young Barry's own site visits accompanying his builder father. Originally she was a "mousy" character and too quiet to please the raucous crowd at [[The Establishment (club)|The Establishment]] club in London.<ref name="William Cook pp15-18">"The consummate amateur" by William Cook, ''The Oldie'' [London], September 2016 pp. 15-18.</ref>

According to [[John Lahr]], Edna came into her own during the 1980s when the policies of [[Thatcherism]]—and what he described as the "vindictive style of the times"—allowed Dame Edna to sharpen her observations accordingly.<ref name="Lahr 1992 1">{{Harvnb|Lahr|1992|p=1}}</ref> Lahr wrote that Edna took Prime Minister [[Margaret Thatcher]]'s "seemingly hypocritical motto" of "caring and compassion" for others and turned it on its head, Edna became the voice of Humphries' outrage.<ref name="Lahr 1992 1"/>{{dubious|date=May 2012}}{{vague|date=May 2012}}

In a 2011 interview with [[CUNY TV]], actor [[Zoe Caldwell]] claimed that the character had been written with her in mind, but that she turned it down as she did not believe she could make it funny. She then suggested to Humphries that he perform the role himself.<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211205/uEqjr2Y74MM Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20140121105941/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEqjr2Y74MM Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEqjr2Y74MM| title = Women in Theatre: Zoe Caldwell, actress | website=[[YouTube]]| date = 7 June 2011 }}{{cbignore}}</ref>