If you’ve lived in Australia for any time at all, you’ll no doubt know the author of Dropping the Mask. And if you grew up here any time between 1978 and 2001, it’s almost certain odds that Noni Hazlehurst was a part of your childhood, thanks to her prodigious stint as a Play School presenter. But nobody gets to their 70s in Australian entertainment with just one string to their bow and, in this autobiography, the indomitable actor, presenter and passionate advocate takes us through her storied career to date, pretty much brick by brick.
I say ‘passionate advocate’ as this review isn’t ArtsHub‘s first connection with Hazlehurst this year. A few months back she wrote to us fiercely indignant about a review we’d published of the one-woman show Mother. Her concerns were not about the way she was reviewed personally, which was actually glowingly, with our reviewer describing her performance as “faultless“. It was more about the reviewer’s interpretation of the subtext of the play.
This isn’t the place to go into the ins and outs of that argument here, but reading Dropping the Mask does go a long way to revealing exactly why she was inspired to voice her disappointment so vociferously. Her early life, with loving but undemonstrative parents was nothing if not sheltered (“my parents’ overprotectiveness was extreme”), and she describes in detail the various ways she has had her consciousness raised over the ensuing decades – particularly when it comes to gender inequity, poverty and other issues of social injustice.
Hazlehurst has very strong views on the political landscape in Australia and the treatment of the arts by successive governments, and she expresses them boldly and persuasively. Yes, she’s bound to be derided as a typical artsy bleeding heart by those on the right of the political spectrum, but that ferocity translates into a performer who isn’t afraid to at least nibble the hand that feeds her when she’s fired up about an issue of equality or to make a plea for the “cause of unity”.
Dropping the Mask covers much of this side of Hazlehurst’s life and passions, but it’s also a fairly linear account of a life and career in the Australian entertainment industry. And it’s been a hugely successful and varied one. Although those looking to follow in her footsteps may be a little dispirited at first, as it does initially read as if that career was the smoothest of sails. Thanks to a background in music and dance – her parents may have been protective but, as former vaudevillians, they also exposed to her to a wonderfully artistic childhood – followed by training, work seemed to come fairly easily to her in the early days.
Stick with the book, though, as she also reveals the inevitable struggles and challenges of a professional performer’s life – the dry periods, the jobs you’d really rather not do, but need the cash, and the ones that promise much but fail to deliver.
Read: Book review: Afro-Centered Futurisms in Our Speculative Fiction, Eugen Bacon (editor)
And above all, Dropping the Mask does have one really great lesson for all aspiring thespians. And it’s actually not so much that she draws a compelling account of the peripatetic nature of an actor’s life and the vagaries of a business that is so unreliable, so fractured, but at times so blissfully fulfilling and rewarding. Nor that she offers some insights into process, how an actor may approach their craft and the reasons she has agreed to particular projects or, indeed, rejected them.
These elements are all included, along with enjoyable and at times revealing snippets of her time working with other stalwarts of the Australian entertainment industry or the behind the scenes chaos that a show like Better Homes and Gardens entails (pro tip: if you do decide to let the powers that be shoot a long-running show in your own home, be prepared for the interminable line of grips queueing up for your bathroom, a continual flow of coffee out of your kitchen and into thirsty gullets, and a husband always on the lookout for the next fixer-upperer, instead of the cosy readymade home you’d really like to live in).
No, the biggest lesson for any young would-be star of stage and screen is to start keeping a journal now. It could be one of the smartest moves you’ll ever make.
Dropping the Mask, Noni Hazelhurst
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 9781460759042
Format: Hard Cover
Pages: 384
Publication: 2 October 2024
RRP: $39.99
