By Angela Mollard
Pictures: Andrew Jacob
Get four funny women together talking about breasts and it’s no surprise that they’re soon falling about and shrieking with laughter.
Writer Wendy Harmer and actors Anne Looby, Virginia Gay and Lisa Hewitt are all involved with Breast Wishes, a musical celebration of breasts which will coincide with the end of Breast Cancer Awareness month.
Says Anne who conceived the show after her sister Amanda battled breast cancer: “The show deals with all aspects of breasts and it’s very uplifting.”
“Yeah, it’s as uplifting as a good underwire bra,” quips Wendy who is responsible for much of the comedy in the show which will raise money for the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
Humour is a key element in the gala which is hinged around the story of a family as they deal with all aspects of breasts through adolescence, lactation, mammograms and, ultimately, breast cancer.
Says AFI award-winning Anne, who sought scenes and monologues from a string of top writers, “It packs an enormous emotional punch but without sentimentality. It’s hilarious but we also get to the meat of the situation.”
One of Anne’s favourite lines from the show is an explanation of what to tell men when they enquire what mammograms are like. “Well, get out your penis and I’ll go and get two volumes of the yellow pages and show you,” shoots Anne’s character Carol.
For All Saints star Virginia Gay it was the thrill of a live audience as well the subject matter which attracted her to a role in Breast Wishes.
“I miss a crowd like nothing else,” says Virginia who has played Gabrielle Jaeger on All Saints for more than two years. “The show is serious but the comedy is seat-wettingly funny and I get very excited about the possibility of hearing those laughs. If you get laughs on the All Saints set it’s because you’ve done something wrong and everyone is sniggering.”
Meanwhile Lisa Hewitt, who is squeezing in the performance just weeks before her forthcoming wedding to singer David Campbell, is brushing up on her singing. She says she’s eager not to disgrace herself in front of her fiancé or her future father-in-law Jimmy Barnes.
“I haven’t sung since before I went to drama school so I’ve had to go back to singing lessons,” she giggles. “As for the dancing, I have the flexibility of wood so that’s going to be a challenge.”
The three actresses — who will also be joined by Valerie Bader — have all had friends or family members with breast cancer while Wendy Harmer’s best friend of 23 years was undergoing chemotherapy as she was writing her part of the script.
Says Wendy: “Having a friend going through it influenced me and made me want to write something serious but I know I write comedy better. Jokes make everybody happy and breasts are hilarious. Except for breast cancer, everything else to do with breasts is a riot.”
She says it’s also the lifecycle breasts go through which makes them so amusing: “They go from being very sexual, to maternal then you come out the other side and they’re really just a decorative item.”
For Anne, whose family history led her to be tested for the breast cancer gene which fortunately she has not inherited, Breast Wishes has many purposes. As well as raising awareness and funds for the foundation in October, she is planning to tour the show next year.
As she says: “Breast cancer has touched so many people and I feel that this is a way I can make a difference. My greatest talent is surrounding myself with really talented people and together they’ve created a real celebration of life.”
Breast Wishes is on stage at the Sydney Theatre on Friday October 31. For more information visit www.breastwishes.com.au
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