It was certainly a notable spectacle in all sorts of ways. From the massed ranks of the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra filling the stage to the extravagant black, sparkly-winged glasses sported by Dame Edna Everage. Somehow, though, this ambitious revival of a performance here 28 years ago never took flight.

Yet it started so well. After a sweeping overture conducted by Carl Davis, Barry Humphries appeared in the guise of Sir Les Patterson, cultural attaché extraordinaire, dribbling more than a Roy Hattersley Spitting Image puppet. Patterson is a magnificent monster and his 75-year-old creator was on filthily fine form, insulting the stony-faced Sheilas in the front row and boorishly berating latecomers.

The problems began when Patterson introduced a piece of music entitled Peter and the Shark — apologies to both Prokofiev and Jaws. The juxtaposition of his gloriously coarse-grained humour and the story of one man’s encounter with nature, via cameos from dingos and kookaburras, sat uneasily together.

It was left to Dame Edna in a salmon-red sequined frock to sail to the rescue after the interval, but the same problem ensued. After a brilliant spell of banter in which the housewife “giga-star” skewered hedge fund managers reduced to sitting in the cheap seats, more oratorio intruded again.

The theme here was Australian history, as classical orchestrations accompanied Everage, who drearily dragged us from Captain Cook to Kylie Minogue. It was only the contrastingly comical interruptions that sustained interest. A spoof call from Camilla was deftly cut short — “I’m sorry, I’ve got people”.

First the Ashes, now this. It has not been a good summer for visiting Australians. It was unsurprising that some Sheilas were exiting before the end, probably wanting more mockery, less music.

An encore of gladioli-chucking cheered the mood a little. Everage claimed they were aphrodisiacs: “Sellotape them to the affected parts.”

Unfortunately it needed more than newly picked flowers to leave this show smelling fresh.