Here's the Punch Judy

I struggled though the last few years of senior school. I was restless and bored. I’d been working part time at Kmart for a couple of years and had enjoyed the freedom of having my own money. I wanted to work in film and yet my school curriculum was geared towards maths and sciences. Something I was also good at but had little interest in. If it didn’t interest me I didn’t want to do it.

I chose courses that seemed fun. Things I could do easily and one of them was Squash. Squash meant that we had to walk off the school grounds to the courts. You were never allowed to leave the school grounds during the day. The school was responsible for you from the minute you go there in the morning until the end of the day.

After squash it was recess, and once the Phys. Ed teacher drove past us in her car back to the school, I would persuade my girlfriend to come with me into town where we’d buy hot chips smothered in gravy. In turn we’d be the envy of many other students who were only able to buy health foods from our tuck shop.

The powers that be would always get wind of our detour and invariably I’d end up in the Vice Principal’s office. I liked to say I had my own chair in there. In Year 7 I’d been called in as part of a group suspected of writing “Yvette M is a dirty red rag” on a classroom blackboard and while I had no involvement it was a scary time. By my final years I didn’t care. My parents had paid so many fees for my schooling over the years that I felt the school was in no position to kick me out. Especially not for simply walking into town at recess.

Mrs. Judith Reyne was the then Vice Principal and she was a well-spoken lady with a gentle touch. When I think of her I’m reminded of the Queen. Other Vice Principals over the years had been a little more aggressive when they were forced to correct behaviour. Mrs Reyne tried to work out what the problems I was having were and tried to appeal to my intelligence. I can still hear her now reasoning with me about why the school had rules and why I should be able to follow them. I liked her. But she still had a job to do and if anything I felt I was letting her down.

I was 19 years old when I went to work for an Actor’s Agent. Stacey. She’s a whole other story but to cut a long story short, years after I worked for Stacey, Jennifer Saunders would do a perfect impersonation of her in her sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, down to the relationship with her daughter, Saffron in the sitcom, Gretchen in real life.

Stacey represented many actors I recognised from Australian film and television and I was delighted to be interacting with them and having inside knowledge of their careers. I basked in my role as receptionist, talking with them, making tea and coffee and updating their biographies. It was a fantastic introduction to the Media Industry.

All of the actor’s headshots were stuck on the wall. Men on one side, women of the other, in no particular order. Well not that the actors nor I knew of. This allowed Stacey, when discussing a casting opportunity with a casting director, the ability to see who might be suitable to present as a good fit for the role. It was there I saw my Vice Principal, Judith’s face on the wall. She was an actor prior to her role as a teacher and Vice Principal and was now pursuing acting professionally fulltime. Stacey had agreed to represent her.

Photo Credit to Wentworth Cell Block H (AKA Prisoner) www.wwwentworth.co.uk

It was an interesting day when Judith visited her agent. The former troubled student now knew about the former Vice Principal’s career and had access to her contact details. On this day, the former Vice Principal was offered a chair in my office!