We all have our share of busy times. For many, the last few weeks have been a splendid blur of celebration and travel. But then, you chat with Verity Hunt-Ballard and realise you don’t know the meaning of busy at all. Having performed in the musicalMary Poppinsto rapturous audiences, Hunt-Ballard has now returned to the stage as the eponymous character inSweet Charity. It also happens to coincide with moving house and juggling the evolving demands of an almost-two-year-old daughter, Emmy-Lou. As some wise man once said, there’s never a dull moment.
“I have to be honest with you,” Hunt-Ballard says brightly, “Emmy-Lou isn’t a great sleeper, so I haven’t slept through an entire night in around 20 months now. You kind of just get used to it. From that first six months, I now understand why they use [sleep deprivation] as torture. It’s just crazy, it screws with every part of you. And I was rocking up to rehearsals, already pretty overwhelmed by Neil Simon’s text and the big chunks of dialogue that he has, and realising that, my God, there really is a thing called baby brain. When people saw Charity break down at the end of the show, it was just as likely they were actually seeing Verity.”
That blurred line between reality and fiction is something that all stage performers must eventually acknowledge, though in Hunt-Ballard’s case, one would hope that some of the charmed life lessons of Mary Poppins might carry across to her daily life. It’s a notion she has heard before, and while there may be some kernel of truth there, the tone in her voice suggests the reality is somewhat less magical.
“I guess, I guess. She’s just so other-worldly. But it was so lovely to play a role that was so extremely different from Mary. There are elements that I see are alike between the two, but Charity allows me to be quite free physically – it allows me to really play – whereas Mary Poppins was so refined. Playing that role, being in charge of two children every night onstage, certainly prepared me for the responsibility of having someone completely dependent on you.”
The two roles do indeed seem worlds apart, and while there remains a darkness beneath the story of Mary Poppins, in Sweet Charity Hunt-Ballard gets to finally sink her teeth into some of the shadows that bubble to the surface. “We talked a lot about Fellini’s vision [in Nights Of Cabiria], which is much darker, much rawer, and really deals with the impression that the women are probably prostitutes. There is a lot of glamour here, but behind closed doors it’s much more sinister, which brought a kind of weight to the story that I really enjoyed. So Charity’s desperation yet constant optimism was something really interesting to play with. There’s a beautiful scene that we approached very sensitively where three women sing about all of the things they’re going to do once they’re out of the dancehall. Charity finally gets the courage to apply for this job and rocks up to an office, and it’s just soul-destroying. When she realises, and the audience realises, that there’s no other choice, she has to go back, it’s a strong scene. It’s very beautiful to delve into these issues with a cast that’s become family. It’s very sad and funny and clever how the whole production has been sculpted, and honestly, it’s like the audience really have just stepped into a music hall.”
Sweet Charityis playing atPlayhouse, Sydney Opera House fromThursday January 15 until Sunday February 8, tickets online.
