TREADING the boards at Tamworth’s Capitol Theatre is a long way from dealing with the fictional crime hub of Mount Thomas.
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Former Blue Heelers co-stars John Wood and Julie Nihill have reunited to take on Bakersfield Mist.
The play is based on true story of a woman’s fight to verify a Jackson Pollock painting she picked up in an op-shop.
Wood said Nihill was one of the first actresses he thought of to play the leading role with the director Lucy Freeman approaching the actress at Wood’s 70th birthday party last year.
They want to see other people experiencing the things that they themselves have experienced and how they deal with it.
- John Wood on theatre
It marks a return of sorts for Nihill who took some time away from acting after Blue Heelers wrapped up in 2006.
“This came up a year ago, I had just been filming in Broken Hill on a beautiful gig and came back to John’s birthday,” she told The Leader.
“I met this director, who I’ve never met before, just before I left the party and said I’ve got this script for you.
“I read it once and said absolutely.”
The play takes a look into people’s relationships with art.
“People are a bit scared of art and funnily enough that’s part of the thing in the play,” she said.
“She finds this painting, it completely and profoundly changes her. She’s not the same person.
“Particularly by the end of the play, you see that. It opens her heart and her mind in the way things do.”
Wood was equally easy to convince to take part in the play and it was Nihill’s performance in a play called Inheritance by Hannie Rayson which confirmed she was the right woman for the job.
“Julie read the script and said yes immediately,” he said.
“As I believe any woman would’ve, had they read the script, it’s such a good script.
“It’s such a great nuanced role, and they’re few and far between.”
Wood said he believed in bringing theatre to regional areas like Tamworth, where he has been a frequent visitor in recent years.
“Often people don’t realise how important it is,” he said.
“They sort of say ‘why should we spend money on drama or building theatres, we should be building footy grounds’.
“I love footy as much as the next bloke, it’s great to actually have somewhere you can actually exercise your mind and the theatre comes in handy.”
Wood said the “sense of catharsis” provided by art and theatre was important for people, whether they realised it or not.
“They want to see other people experiencing the things that they themselves have experienced and how they deal with it,” he said.
TV stars reunited on the stage
Perhaps best known for the respective roles in Blue Heelers as Sergeant Tom Croydon and publican Chris Riley, the pair didn’t think theatre audiences would have any trouble disconnecting from their past charctaers.
Somehow, particularly in the early years of Blue Heelers, it just resonated across a lot of demographics
- Julie Nihill
“There’s no comparison, the characters aren’t anything like the one’s we played in Blue Heelers,” Wood said.
“The important thing about Blue Heelers, I suppose, is the familiarity of our faces will attract people to come, hopefully.”
Wood is still fondly, and regularly, recognised as the Mount Thomas police sergeant.
“Sometimes it’s less than convenient than others but most of the time people have such fond memories of the show, they’re usually very pleasant,” Wood said.
He said it was great to be working with Nihill once again.
Even after taking a break from acting and 10 years passing since the show ended, it still resonates in communities around Australia, according to Nihill.
“When I was in Broken Hill filming, it was an American thing,” she said.
“[But] the people were really interested in me and I was quite shocked, I had been away from the industry.
“It was an Australian story that people just loved. There was a level of comfort and recognition.
“Somehow, particularly in the early years of Blue Heelers, it just resonated across a lot of demographics.”