All the world's a stage

This is a portrait of Deborah Mailman who is now, officially, my new favourite Australian actress. I have loved her for quite a while, but last night I saw her in the Belvoir Street Theatre production of Antigone and I am simply overcome with devotion. Ms. Mailman played the role of Antigone, no, I lie, she WAS Antigone. She WAS Antigone for every single second of the hour and a half production. Her presence and strength of emotion were so strong that I found myself looking at her even when Creon or Chorus or someone else was doing their bit on stage.



I chose to paste in this portrait of her (rather than a promotional photo) because I think it captures some of the depth of her art. The artist who painted the portrait is Evert Ploeg, and he won the People's Choice Award for the most popular portrait in the 1999 Archibald Prize competition. It was later purchased by the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.



Ms. Mailman is now centre stage in my life, but that has not always been the case. Until last night I only had eyes for the divine Claudia Karvan, who is quietly contemplating you in the portrait below:

Having admired Ms. Karvan for many years, my admiration reached its infatuation point when she created and starred in the series "Love My Way". I was slow to discover this series, as we do not have cable tv (gasp!). So I rented the series a year or so after it aired and began gushing about it to everybody, who thought I was insane because, well, it was already well into its second season. Whatever.

This portrait was painted by Martine Emdur, and has a special place in my heart for many reasons, but primarily because we can see Ms. Karvan's partner and little daughter Audrey in the background. The portrait was chosen as a finalist for the 2003 Archibald, and I remember visiting the gallery and seeing it for the first time. I loved it immediately.

Ms. Karvan, however, was not the first Australian actress to be spotlighted on my stage of joy. No. That, I must admit, was the freckled firecracker who is subtly flirting with you in the portrait below - the glorious Susie Porter.

Susie (we are so close, it's first-name basis) and I first met during a screening of "Feeling Sexy". Yes, indeed. And if any of you are bored with the links and don't feel inclined to check out the "Feeling Sexy" link...well, all I can say is, it's worth it...scroll down to see the tattooed bottom...and no, it's NOT Susie's bottom. It's male.

The photograph above is the art of Australian photographer Peter Brew-Bevan. Thank you Mr. Brew-Bevan for understanding what Susie is all about, and capturing it for us.

Sadly, that is all for today. It is Thursday morning. Work calls me, children call me, dog calls me, laundry calls me. Ms E, oh Ms E, last call Ms E. Make-up, wardrobe and off I go into the glare of the bright lights.