The show goes on

Andrew Mathieson
MUM and dad didn’t have talent on stage but there were still plenty of lines rehearsed in the Lee household of North Geelong.
The children growing up in their home always pined for the theatre and in the 1989 production of God Spell all three girls and their brother finally appeared together for the first time.
The show was a long time coming for the family who were regular Geelong Society of Operatic and Dramatic Arts junior players throughout the 1960s and ’70s.
The eldest of the acting clan, now 52-year-old Debbie Fraser, tells of supportive parents whose roles were limited to driving their kids to stage shows, sitting on organising committees or making props.
“We’re all professional actors, the four of us,” Debbie explains.
“It’s a bit sad, actually, because I don’t know where we got our genes.
“Dad was a fire officer for the CFA and says he can’t sing because he gave it all to his children.
“Mum, when she was very young in Ballarat, went in a pantomime and was so nervous she threw up on the side of the stage, never to return for another one.”
The family’s youngest, Cindy, got the first big family break in professional shows.
The 10-year-old was cast in the stage performance of Annie the musical after sisters Debbie and Gail discovered her singing potential.
Debbie also found fame in three episodes of the long-running TV series The Sullivans.
She played a teenage German girl on a farm overrun by Nazi soldiers in the Second World War during several flashback scenes.
“I had to speak with an accent,” Debbie says, mouthing a Bavarian voice, “and I had long, blonde hair, I remember.”
“If you blinked, you missed me.”
Occasional appearances on The Flying Doctors had Debbie playing one of the outback mums.
But her favourite role was in a retro 1970s commercial first. Friends with good memories still give her a ribbing.
“I was the original Coles checkout chick,” Debbie laughs.
“All I had to do was smile and hold things up at the register while a voice-over spoke.”
For the Newtown mother of four – two of whose children have caught the acting bug – the journey has gone from 10-year-old hopeful to GSODA company director, secretary, committee member and, most recently, artistic advisor.
The passion for acting spurred Debbie to give up a nursing career to form Music Box theatre company, creating new job opportunities and using Geelong actors for professional shows.
The company is out to find “the next Nicole Kidman or Tom Cruise”, Debbie says, but still encourages people off the street.
“I just want to try to instil a love of theatre whether they participate or not,” she says.
To Debbie, the theatre is a family – albeit one helluva extended family.
She has made her name in directing close to a hundred shows in Geelong, Melbourne and Ballarat and casting more than a thousand actors.
The first production was the 1981 pantomime of Aladdin, featuing the stage debut of Australian Hollywood star Guy Pearce as the young prince.
“I wouldn’t say I taught him everything he knows,” Debbie grins, “but when you see your passion is picked up by others and that is what they want to continue to do, I think that is special.”
While acting hasn’t been on the horizon for more than a decade, Debbie’s love of live stage performance hasn’t faded away.
The hours spent in near-empty halls in rehearsals is most rewarding.
“There is a lot more to it than just learning lines,” Debbie says.
“It’s interesting because people ask how we learn all the lines but that just comes with learning the character in rehearsals.”