Three decades on, the gloss has notworn off
When Janice Finn first met Lisa Chappell, they were about to make New Zealand television history. Finn, who started her career as an actress, produced our first “super soap”, Gloss, while Chappell, then 20, landed a starring role as spoilt rich kid Chelsea Redfern. During the past few years, the two have been working together again on stage shows.
This month, Finn directs Chappell in the comedy Two by English playwright Jim Cartwright. Chappell joins fellow actor Paul Glover to play a bickering husband and wife who run a Northern pub visited, one evening, by an assortment of weird characters, including a little boy left behind by his father. As well as the warring couple, Chappell and Glover portray the other 14 characters.
We asked Finn and Chappell how their relationship had evolved during the 30 years since Gloss.
Janice Finn on Lisa Chappell:
“I cast Lisa as Chelsea because not only was she beautiful and she did a very good audition but I thought she looked a bit like Ilona Rodgers and would be a believable daughter for Ilona’s character, Maxine. She proved better than I had thought and was obviously going to be a considerable talent on stage and screen. Not only did I not imagine I’d be working with Lisa 30 years after Gloss, I didn’t imagine I would return to the theatre. It was only four years since I’d given up my career as an actress when I began producing Gloss and I was in love with my shiny new job in television. But 14 years later, out of the blue, the then artistic director of The Auckland Theatre Company, Simon Prast ( Chelsea’s brother Alistair in Gloss) gave me the opportunity to direct a play and I realised how much I missed theatre. It gets into your bones quickly and remains there forever.
Lisa has made acting, singing, writing and directing her life since Gloss and she’s been very successful. I watched her on McLeod’s Daughters and she has a luminous quality that’s riveting on screen. And if anyone saw her in Tadpole Theatre’s production of The Pink Hammer last year, they’d agree she has that quality on stage as well. It’s a combination of her beauty, stature and the truth she brings to every role.
As this is the third Tadpole play I’ve cast her in, there’s obviously something I enjoy about working with Lisa. Having agreed to do a role, she approaches it with enthusiasm, affection and dedication; she’s a great cast member in that she gets on with everyone, which I think is important. Two has two actors playing 14 roles and only experienced theatre actors who are match- fit can pull off this sort of challenge successfully so Lisa was my first thought for the
Lowdown What: Two Where and when: The Pump House; October 26- November 5
female role. The audience loves her; she’s intelligent, funny and talented. Frankly, what more could you ask?”
Lisa Chappell on Janice Finn:
“I was quite intimidated when I first met Janice as she has such a strong focus and even stronger opinions. Despite the nerves, I liked her very much and wanted to make her proud. Gloss was such an amazing opportunity for me and I will always be grateful to her for it.
I hadn't considered us working together again three decades later because at 20 I couldn't even imagine being 50. But here we are and we're having a better time than ever.
Since I was 16, I've only ever wanted to act right up until they pop me into a coffin or, in my case, donate my body to science, so yes, being on stage has always been the dream.
I enjoy working with Janice because she's smart and really cares about the work, plus she's got great antennae for the audience. In rehearsals she lets me explore, lets George my dog come to rehearsals and brings in biscuits every day. What more could you ask?”