On the inside, again

When I was a kid growing up in Nambour in Queensland, it was the 1940s and mum and dad went to the movies all the time. So I grew up with Hollywood musicals and Bette Davis and Joan Crawford melodramas, which is probably why I am a smoker to this day.

But I never wanted to be like Bette or Joan. I wanted to be like those actresses like Virginia Mayo -“ hopeless, but very pretty. I wanted to be in all those frothy frocks that the bad actresses got to wear, but I have to admit I was partial to cowboys as well.

I decided then I wanted to act, but you never think about how tough it is going to be when you start. It is a bit like law -“ lawyers never know how corrupt it is until they get into the middle of it. But from a young age, I was the one who would stand on the table and sing.

I studied speech and drama, did a few shows at school and then joined the local amateur theatrical society. When the touring professional shows would come through town, my family would billet them. Once we billeted this girl, her name was Judith, and she shared my bedroom and I thought she was so theatrical. She kept talking about people who were camp, and I was not sure what that meant then.

Six months later, I was asked to audition for that troupe to replace Judith, and I got the job. I thought that must be how everyone started being an actor -“ it was so simple.

When the tour finished, I decided to come to Sydney, and I was so glad I did as it was a time of change. Australians were just beginning to tell Australian stories, and there were all these exciting writers like David Williamson, Alex Buzo and Bob Ellis. I think of it as a time we were finding our voices as Australians.

The thing about being a character actor, though, is that you don’t get the spotlight on you as much as the leading lady. I was always playing someone’s sister or neighbour or aunt. I did create a lot of roles, though, like in Williamson’s The Removalists. It was groundbreaking times.

I was doing a lot of theatre, one of my favourites being The Summer Of The Seventeenth Doll trilogy in Melbourne. Then a writer friend told me he was working on a new TV series about women in prison and had written a character for me called Bea Smith. When I read it, I thought it was okay, but liked the role of Frankie, the lesbian who bashed everyone, much better. But they offered me Bea, I said no and then Val Lehman was cast. The rest is history.

About three years in, Prisoner was a big hit and I was asked to play Nola McKenzie, the triple murderess. I was there for eight months and, in that time, I don’t think Nola showed one redeeming quality or said a nice word to anyone. I had a ball.

I would go home after a week of working on Prisoner and feel so relaxed because I had got rid of every bit of aggression as I was yelling and thumping actresses all day. It was like great therapy. We were all so vile to each other in front of the cameras, but having the best time.

A group of us got together a few years ago for a Prisoner Mardi Gras float. Val Lehman was up there working the press but, as we turned a corner, she and the press almost flew off the side. It was such a wild night, and I know now why rock stars love their lives because the screams coming out of that crowd were unlike anything I had ever heard.

After Prisoner came mad Doris Hudson on Sons And Daughters, and she was another tough gal who was a bit nuts. I loved playing the tough ones on TV because on stage I have played so many mums who make a great cup of tea or a good roast. That becomes boring fast.

Which is why I love doing what I am working on now. In Parramatta Girls, I am playing Judy, a former inmate of the Girls Training School in Parramatta. This is based on the real stories of what these girls went through, and what they talked about when they had a reunion 40 years later.

If the girls didn’t go in there as tough nuts, they were by the time they came out. There were all kinds of abuse, both emotional and sexual, happening there. That I find very disturbing. There is also some talk of the relationships between the girls when some of them got into bed and had a cuddle. Of course there was an attraction to anyone who showed them some love and affection.

Working on this play reminds me of what I think of as being my simple and ordinary life, and just how privileged I am to have had it. I have parents who love me, three beautiful sisters, and always had somewhere clean to sleep and good food. What more could a girl want? Sometimes when I hear some people complaining, I think of stories from this show and think many of us have done okay in life.

Parramatta Girls is playing at Belvoir Street Theatre. Bookings on 9699 3444 or at www.belvoir.com.au.

Interview by John Burfitt