Bernadette Meenach, playwright and actress, Judy Strikes Back
There’s more to this woman than meets the eye ...
Whether you know Judy Garland as the sweet-faced Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz or the tragic film star shrouded in mystery, Judy Strikes Back will more than likely demonstrate that, in fact, you don’t know Judy at all. Stripping back the myths and unearthing new truths, this fabulous cabaret will show you the unseen version of Judy standing strong behind the stereotypes and taglines. Playwright and actress Bernadette Meenach will take on the role of Judy from Thursday August 13 to Friday August 15 at the Judith Wright Centre. But before she dons those ruby slippers, Bernadette took five with The Weekend Edition this week to talk gold slaves and living your dream.
So why Judy Garland?
Well, Judy’s role as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz was one of the first things she ever did in terms of movies, but she spent the next 16 years with MGM Studios just making film after film after film. In those days, they made maybe eight films a year – just bang, bang, bang. Judy Garland then left the studio, and she was only around 28 years old then, but she was exhausted. From then on, she did concert tours, continued to record albums and had always done radio, but by then there was this sense that she was recognised as a bit of a liability. She’d been involved in taking a lot of uppers, speed-based drugs, in order to keep that workpace up. And that just continued on throughout the rest of her relatively short life – she died when she was 47. What it seems to have left her with was a legacy that yes, she was a talented actress, but she’s also the pin-up girl for drug abuse, the tragic diva. That was something I wanted to address – I think if you’d worked really long hours six days a week for 16 years, usually people would want to take stress leave or switch jobs. But we don’t seem to see it that way.
Is it true this new show Judy Strikes Back stemmed from playing Judy Garland in The Boy From Oz a few years ago?
Yes, I played Judy in a production of The Boy from Oz up at the Empire Theatre in Toowoomba. And what I noticed was that a lot of people would come up to me and say, “Oh poor Judy, she had such a terrible life” and I started to take it personally. So I started searching for more information about her training as an actress and a singer, and the things that disrupted that tragedy narrative to show there’s more to this woman than meets the eye. So this is the second incarnation of the show; this one is a lot more edgy. Even if you don’t know Judy Garland, this show may well have a little message in there for you. It’s going to be a lot of fun! It will be cabaret seating so you can book a table and have a drink.
How long has it taken to prepare the show and what kind of research did you have to do?
Well part of it had already started through my preparation for The Boy from Oz because I’d been reading biographies and collecting information – and YouTube is an actor’s best friend. That’s when I really started to think hang on, in The Boy from Oz script she’s depicted nicely but there’s still that sense like she’s a bit of a drugged mess who dies by the end of the first act, and comes back as a ghost. So there was already information there and it was director Lewis Jones who said that maybe I should do something with this – and so I did! I’ve also turned it into a practice-led PhD.
What’s one of the more interesting snippets of information or quotes you learnt about Judy?
To me, one of the greatest things she ever said was, “Be a first-rate version of yourself, not a second-rate version of somebody else”. It’s funny because there are so many Judy Garland impersonators! So I play with that idea a bit. Another great thing she did was she loved this really great male Judy Garland impersonator and one night she went to see him. She went backstage at interval and they decided to play a trick on the audience, so the impersonator came back to sit in the audience and the real Judy performed the second act of the show. And yet at the end of the show, the people who were sitting around the guy in the audience said, “Oh he’s good, but he hasn’t got a patch on you Judy!” She was really good fun.
We’ve heard the cabaret boasts a wonderfully eclectic mix of music …
Yes there are little hits of Katy Perry and Pharrell and Sinatra and a song called ‘Something Cool’ that Judy never finished recording when she had a TV show back in the 1960s, so I want to finish it for her … There are a couple of original numbers in it as well. Our musical director/accompanist Morgan Chalmers has really embodied Judy’s favourite musical director – he’s basically looked at all of these songs and ‘done a Garland’ on them. So they have a particular style that makes them sound like part of a particular era, even though some of them may be songs that were released long after she passed away.
And what costumes are involved to Judy-fy you?
I switch through a few standard Judy outfits, and Patrick Dwyer – God love him – is playing a number of different characters, so he’s got a few quick changes too! He gets to play different historical male movie characters throughout the cabaret … and he does a drag Judy as well!
How did you first get into acting?
My mother created a monster really, she started taking me to the theatre when I was two!
Can you remember the first time you ever performed on stage?
My first proper performed show was a pantomime of Aladdin with Lola Wilson’s School of Dancing at the Civic Centre in Ipswich. I was Gold Slave #1. My line was, “Gold! Gold! What is the use of it all?” I had asthma, so the doctor told my mum to put me into swimming and dancing, so at four I started dancing and had the opportunity to do eisteddfods and pantomimes.
When did you know that this was what you wanted to do for the rest of your life?
At about the age of nine or ten, it clicked. I was walking around the back of the Civic Centre stage in the midst of Little Red Riding Hood and I just got this feeling like, “I love this!” And it’s been fun ever since!
What do you love about performing?
I notice that every time I’m in a rehearsal, there’s a point during the day where I unconsciously step back and say, “I love this!” Of course it’s always nerve-racking in those few days before the opening when you think, “Why did I do this to myself?” but it’s always good fun!
FAVOURITE WEEKEND SPOT TO:
Get coffee … Reverends Fine Coffee, Fortitude Valley.
Relax … Reef Seafood and Sushi at Gasworks, Newstead.
Catch up with friends … our roof garden that looks over the city!
Be inspired … the theatre.