“I Wish She Could See Herself As I See Her”
Melanie Tait (right) and Priscilla Jackman became firm friends when they were young actors and went on to stage a hit play in London. Twenty years on, Melanie is a playwright and Priscilla a director, and the pair have rediscovered their working relationship.
Melanie It was 1999 and I was in my first year of an acting degree. One of my best friends, Andy, was a third-year student. He met Priscilla when he went to Sydney for his graduation, and they moved into a share house. I remember when he brought her to Wollongong to meet me, we loved each other instantly. She had a tiny pixie cut and was wearing a brown plaid shirt. I used to doss at their house until I made the move to Sydney myself. We were young, going out all the time – it was a really happy time.
Priscilla I was a budding actor from Queensland who arrived in Sydney for my graduation show. I remember standing on the corner of Oxford Street and feeling like my lungs had opened up, that I was able to breathe. I had to get photographs done and the photographer (who had shot photos for students from a Wollongong acting school who were also in town for their graduation) invited me to the pub to join them for drinks. I asked if anyone was looking for a share house and one actor jumped up and said, “I am”. That was Andy. We got a house together and before we knew it, Mel had moved in, too.
M When I moved to London the next year, I started my own theatre company to produce musicals. I wrote a play, The Vegemite Tales, about the backpacker experience and decided to stage it to raise funds for my theatre company. Priscilla came over to London to help me with it and that was the solidification of our friendship. I directed it, she starred in it, it ran for nine seasons and we had to do everything: raise money, cast it, find venues. We lived together, we worked together, we did everything together.
P Our friendship really took off in London. Mel rang me and said, “I’ve booked a theatre but I need your help putting it on.” I hadn’t actually read the play – she read it to me in Hyde Park after I arrived. I found it hysterically funny and was deeply in awe of her – I still am. She created work that spoke to the Australian experience in London and because Australians are so transient, every few months we had a new audience. We got sponsors – we got Qantas on board, we got Kraft on board – and it quickly grew out of the small fringe theatres into bigger and bigger theatres. It even ran for two seasons in the West End.
M When I came back to Australia at the end of 2004, I didn’t have the self-confidence to really make something of that experience. Even now, theatre is still pretty much run by men, but back then they didn’t even pay lip service to the stories of young women. Instead I went into journalism and had a roving career with ABC Radio: I’ve been in Darwin, Canberra and Hobart. Priscilla and I didn’t see a lot of each other but we would talk on the phone, sometimes two or three times a day.
P There have been periods we’ve lived in different countries and different cities, but we are still involved in the minutiae of each other’s lives. I did a directing course at NIDA – after years of Mel saying, “Do it, do it, do it.” Mel always has her ear to the ground and has real vision and story instinct. When I was looking for source material for my final-year directorial piece, she handed me Nam Le’s book The Boat, which became the basis of my production and which Nam and I are continuing to develop. The Sydney Theatre Company invited me to pitch something for its development program and I was about to visit Mel in Hobart where we brainstormed ideas. She introduced me to [transgender activist and former army officer] Catherine McGregor, and my 2018 play Still Point Turning was based on interviews that Melanie initiated between us. But I always knew Mel and I would collaborate again.
““She gives 110 per cent to everything she does. I don’t know how she’s not constantly emotionally exhausted.””
M I was looking to move on from journalism – I was thinking of studying medicine. Then Priscilla asked me if had any good ideas for a play. I had just gone through something in my [NSW Southern Highlands] hometown of Robertson, where the local potato race had prize money of $1000 for men and only $200 for women. I started a fundraising campaign on the radio to make up the difference and it caused a cultural meltdown in my hometown. I thought it would make a good play, touching on issues like race, gentrification and feminism. That became The Appleton Ladies’ Potato Race [premiering in 2019]. I wrote it, she directed it, and it got me back working in the theatre after 15 years. I wouldn’t have done that without Priscilla; no-one else remembered I could write plays. She has always been invested in my journey, as I have been in hers. I wrote another play, A Broadcast Coup, that Priscilla was going to direct and we were in rehearsals when COVID hit. I feel like I’ve had a second chance at the career I always wanted.
P Mel wrote a comedy that was utterly charming and hilarious, but with a social and political edge. She was able to take an experience from her life that was actually a horrible experience, where the town felt shamed by her actions, and turned it into a wonderful thing. Before the play, people she’d known her whole life had been turning their back on her, but now they’re proud of her. We were in rehearsals the following year at the time of the local show that the play is based on, so the creative team of our production went down, because Melanie was determined to show her face. When we went to park the car, the parking warden leaned in and pointed her finger at Mel and said, “You!” We assumed she was going to have a piece of Melanie for writing about the town. After a beat, she beamed a big smile and said, “I’m a big fan!” and we all breathed again.
M Priscilla’s the most decent, big-hearted, kind, smart, caring person. She cares so deeply about things – her work, her friends, her family, her partner Mark. It’s one of the things I really love about her but it’s intensely frustrating because she’ll hold on to something when she doesn’t need to. She gives 110 per cent to everything she does. I don’t know how she’s not constantly emotionally exhausted.
P I am deeply inspired by Mel’s passion and enthusiasm for the world around her. She is deeply interested in people what makes us tick. I relish her astonishing people skills, her smarts her humour. I wish she could see herself as I see her, she’s such an extraordinary woman.
The Appleton Ladies’ Potato Race is touring NSW, ACT, Victoria and Queensland until June 19.
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