the Arts Centre presents
Leading Ladies
A Creative Development Initiative

Interview | Biography

Jill Perryman
A much-loved Perth resident, Jill Perryman is strongly associated with His Majesty's Theatre. Jill is very at home in the backstage atmosphere of a theatre and her portrait portrays her bubbly personality and down-to-earth approach to show business.

Jill Perryman His Majesty's Theatre, Perth, 2004 Photograph by Jeff Busby Commissioned, 2004 the Arts Centre, Performing Arts Collection

Leading lady Australian leading ladies Funny Girl Inspirations Words and singing Aspirations Supporting roles Rehearsals Finding out the unknown Developing Miss Hannigan in Annie Orchestra rehearsal for The Boy From Oz Backstage Rituals and routines On stage Uncertainty and spontaneity Portraying emotion Dealing with the unexpected Audiences Audience exchange Mateship

Interview venue: Home of Jill Perryman, Perth
Interview date: 25 May 2003

Leading lady

Australian leading ladies
Jill Perryman: I'm always very grateful, when I read about what the theatre is like, or was in the early days, in America or even in England… the so-called star system, where the star didn't speak to the menials in the company. I don't think we've ever experienced that in Australia… certainly not in my time. You can still be great friends with a rival and that is what's so wonderful about it… One of our dearest friends is Nancye [Hayes], and Toni [Lamond] who I've known for so many years. And I think it's because it becomes like a sisterhood rather than… one-upmanship. We've all got the one aim in mind: to do a good job and enjoy ourselves along the way.

Simon Plant: Is another shared trait perhaps courage?… It has taken a fair amount of guts…

Jill Perryman: It has and we've all survived…

In other countries in theatre, you'd achieve certain fame in a show. From that show, someone would notice a particular quality and they would write a show for that person. Then they'll go on to do that and it's like an ascending scale. Whereas here in Australia - 'cause I know it happened with me in Funny Girl, with Nancye in Sweet Charity - you achieve a certain status and they label you s-t-a-r and then they sort of sit 'round and think, 'Oh well, what happens now? What do we do now?' And in that time unless you are continuing to hone your craft in smaller theatre, where you've got to eat humble pie sometimes, you can go down and down and down. So that instead of going to another level of achieving something after you've had that big hit, you've got to work your way up to that level to go even higher. I think it's the continuity of doing that all the time that's made everybody such good survivors.

Funny Girl
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Inspirations

Words and singing
Jill Perryman: I'm never terribly much interested in singing a song as a song. If it comes from a show and you can have the qualities of the characters that you can put into the song, that's what I love doing. I think even when I did my cabaret act… you find the words are there for you, as the character… It makes it more varied than just getting up and singing a song with words in it, no matter how beautiful it is… Oh, words are so important and I get so mad when people who sing a song don't think of their words… and you can always tell even by the breathing…

Aspirations

Supporting roles
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Rehearsals

Finding out the unknown
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Developing Miss Hannigan in Annie
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Orchestra rehearsal for The Boy From Oz
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Backstage

Rituals and routines
Jill Perryman: Before I go on stage… if I'm waiting in the wings to go on stage, I don't like someone to come up and talk to me just before I have to go on, which is fair enough. But I just stand there and I pray like crazy. I say, 'In thee O Lord do I put my trust. Never let me be put to confusion.' And that's a quotation that I absolutely use. Then I feel as though I'm handing it over or I'm handing over a little bit of the responsibility, you know? I'm not a religious fanatic, but I do feel as though it just gets that, I'm not going out to do something, it's part of me that is going out there. And the other part that will help me on my way has got me out of quite a few scrapes!

Simon Plant: And if you don't say that, do you feel worried?

Jill Perryman: No, I don't. I'm not that sort of superstitious. I know that whatever's looking after me then, will be looking after me even though I haven't remembered to do my bit. But I usually just quote that.

On stage

Uncertainty and spontaneity
Jill Perryman: I don't experience fear if I know that I've had a good rehearsal period, I know my lines, everything is working in harmony, we had a very good final run through. It's just the uncertainty of thinking, 'Is this as good as it's going to be?'

Naturally there is that feeling of uncertainty, but I think that's what keeps you going. If you were so sure that you were going to go on and think, 'Piece of cake. I know my words, I know my song…' I reckon a certain electricity would go. And I think it's the uncertainty, the fear… the uncertainty of the performance. If we knew exactly what we were going to do, it would take away from the spontaneity…

Portraying emotion
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Dealing with the unexpected
Jill Perryman: When we did Side By Side By Sondheim, there was Noel Ferrier, Geraldine Morrow, Bartholomew John and I, sitting on… stools centre stage at the Comedy Theatre in Melbourne and all the girls wore long skirts. And we're sitting on the stool and I looked down and thought it looked like a ball of rolled up hair… And I looked at it and suddenly from the ball of hair, extended this leg and another leg, until there were eight of them. And it was this big tarantula centre stage.

And my first thought [was] Geraldine Morrow, who was a lovely, lovely singer and very dainty, I thought, 'Oh, Geraldine's going to be terrified because it's right in front of her'.... And of course, my heart was starting to bang because I thought, 'How on earth do we get rid of this thing on stage? It could go up our skirts or whatever.'

Noel Ferrier went off stage. Once he saw it, he walked off and he just left us to it. Bartholomew John saw it and eventually incorporated it into a song by stamping his foot during the song and squashing it. When we came off, I said to Geraldine, 'Didn't you see that huge spider?' She said, 'Where, where?… I love spiders.'… She would have picked it up and put it in the corner!

Audiences

Audience exchange
Jill Perryman: The audiences, they really are the most important factor… You've got to consider them first. Are they being satisfied by what they're seeing up on stage?… But you do know, you do get that feeling, when you know that you are at one with the audience… and it's like an electric current. It's quite strange… but it's the only way you can describe it. It definitely is a feeling. And other nights you feel waves of hate. You think, 'I feel waves of hate coming across those footlights tonight!' You know, if things go wrong.

Simon Plant: So it's an exchange?

Jill Perryman: It is an exchange. Because you are letting them in on something that's very personal that is happening with you on stage and you're imparting it to them… It's a reciprocal move, really.

Simon Plant: And all the more risky when you're in cabaret, on your own with no mask, no character, just you?

Jill Perryman: Yes well, I loved that because I thought, 'Well I can't forget my lines when I'm talking about myself!' I felt rather safe… It was a lovely exchange because it's small and you can see their faces and that's what I like… I don't like to see their faces when we're doing a big show, but in cabaret, I love to see the expressions on the people's faces.

Jill Perryman: I like to think it's entertainment, because that's what they're there for. But… I like to feel as though people come up and they say, 'We feel as though we know you.' No one's ever embarrassed about coming up in the street… They feel as though they're your mate. I love that, I love that. It's a feeling of mateship that I get as a performer, which I think is lovely... Rather than feeling embarrassed, they almost slap me on the back and say, you know, 'G'day'… That's what I love about it.

Simon Plant: So you've made friends in a sense as a performer.

Jill Perryman: Yes, I have… Yes, it's the friendship, not only with the members of the company…