emily symons speaks out! thirty four years ago!

As is so often the case with these interviews, I have precisely no memory of meeting Emily Symons, though you'd think I would because I thought Marilyn was a great character on Home and Away. This so-called interview was very early in Symons' career - she had another decade on H&A ahead of her, then a long stretch in the UK on Emmerdale, and then back to Australia and to H&A. That's a career! 

 

Most impressive easter egg in this piece I think is that I misspelled Henri Szeps' name as Henry early on, then misspelled dyed as died later, as a kind of, you know (trails off...)

judy nunn presumably late 1987 or early 1988

 

mettle

Helmi spends her days cowering from the world or lashing out a la Bobbie when we first met her in Home and Away, 'rack... off!' If this was a proper soap opera her narrative arc would have resolved by now but she is resistant to conventional western storytelling tropes and won't be so easily pacified. Here she is looking out onto our balcony, fascinated by (I assume) the smell and sounds of the world, but very unwilling to step out. Well, we have to do these things little by little I reckon and if she had a few minutes at the balcony door every day, sometime in the next five years she might forget herself and accidentally put a foot forward. 

The weird woven cat figure which Carmel gave me did capture Helmi's attention briefly - I don't think she was fooled by it but I think she did sort of see it as one of those extra pieces of ambient interference sent by the universe to mess with her waking nightmare of a life. Paranoid. Still, I take heart from the fact that she did sit there and take an interest in the world for a brief time. I think perhaps there is hope for her yet, or at least, there's hope for me continuing to think there's hope for her. 

 

Whatever happened to burcin kapkin

This morning is a mental health day as they say which will involve a long dog walk, review of six book chapters back from the editor, and I dunno what else. The newspaper is still too much of a downer for me so I started watching old Home and Away on 7two. Instantly I was swept up in a story of Roo being coerced into surrending baby Martha (played by Burcin Kapkin) by Brett Macklin, under threat of Alf being driven out of business by the Macklin Corporation. Compelling.

It’s interesting isn’t it how so many Australian soaps include massively rich businesspeople with multi-million dollar projects that impact on everyone. It’s amazing how Paul Robinson for instance can move amongst people many of whom depend on him for their salaries, etc, but while relations with Paul are never that easy in Ramsay Street there is certainly never any sense that he is better than anyone – he doesn’t even seem to think so. In fact, most people seem to assume he is worse than them. I guess Brett Macklin, who was a much lesser character, is kind of similar. That said, it’s a different world in soaps where people always have to be ‘reset’ every few weeks or written out. Now I’m watching Shortland Street, which was a great favourite in the early 90s when SBS used to run it. I do enjoy New Zealand soaps – Outrageous Fortune etc – particularly because it doesn’t just seem to be a parallel universe, it is one. And because SS is a Grundy production (or whatever they’re called now) they often have actor crossover with Neighbours. Well, historically that’s been so though the episode I’m watching now is difficult to get into. I did enjoy the fugitive with eczema being referred to by his former girlfriend as having a poxy face (thus you knew he was innocent and she was flying off the handle, using his affliction against him).

Shortland Street is a classic soap premise, hospital, and must be wonderfully cheap particularly the cheap clothing (they’re usually wearing light blue pyjamas, like all hospital employees, even the doctors). They don’t seem to do too many second takes either if the amount of accidental furniture kicking, etc that goes on is any indication (nb this is just based on one episode – maybe a weirdity).

I must say that SS’s multiracial cast shows up Neighbours for its unrealistic whiteness, something I know is an issue but tend to forget in the day to day.