Genevieve Lemon Brings Aussie Sass to London's Billy Elliot

An Australian actress on a London stage playing a dance teacher from Northeast England: Is this, as Billy Elliot newcomer Genevieve Lemon quips, like bringing “coals to Newcastle”? In Lemon’s case, the hit musical is in good hands, since she created the role of Mrs. Wilkinson in her home country and won the Australian equivalent of the Tony for her performance. Lemon is the latest Aussie import on the London stage (following her pal Tony Sheldon in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Adam Garcia in the revival of Tap Dogs and Jane Turner in the AIDS-themed drama Holding the Man). And it’s clear from a recent pre-show chat with Broadway.com that actress—known for her star turn in the 1989 movie Sweetie—is delighted to be headlining on the London stage.

You’ve arrived in London at a time when a sizable number of Australian performers are on the West End.
I know. It’s good, isn’t it? I was just coming up the escalator at the tube and saw the Priscilla sign and then the Tap Dogs sign and then the Billy sign and I thought, “Maybe we are taking over!” [Laughs.] I was actually in Priscilla in Australia when they came to cast Billy. I was the character with the boobs who sings, “Please don’t talk about love tonight.” It was a gorgeous little first-act cameo.

And during the second act?
I had a lot of crosswords to do backstage.

But it’s something altogether different, I imagine, to be performing such a quintessentially British show in Britain.
It really is coals to Newcastle, but the producers approached me early on and decided they wanted to have me do it elsewhere in the world, having done the show about 600 times in Australia for the entire 18-month run. I was actually slated to open the Chicago tour, and at the very last minute, American Equity pulled the rug out from under our plans and an American actress [Emily Skinner] ended up playing the role. But the company has really looked after me, and after some shuffling about, I ended up coming straight to London.

Do you find yourself being especially vigilant about the northern accent, now that you are in the U.K.?
After I arrived in April and had got settled, I took a trip up to Newcastle to get the accent in my head again and have a look at the town. I had a great time. Boy, is that a party town! But, in fact, the show sent their London dialect coach, William Conacher, to Australia to work with us. I started performances here May 31, and I find that I’m really starting to relax again and just enjoy it. I’m back where I left off almost a year ago when we closed in Melbourne. It was so sad to finish because we were a very close company, but to come here and meet four new boys and start working with them is a delight. I was talking to [Priscilla star] Tony Sheldon, and both of us feel lucky to be doing these pieces we feel so strongly about.

How would you describe your Mrs. Wilkinson, given that the same role brought Julie Walters an Oscar nomination on screen and Haydn Gwynne a Tony nod in New York?
Very working-class. I’m able to capture that aspect of the character, and I also find that I naturally do bossy quite well; I snap into schoolteacher mode. As you recall, Mrs. Wilkinson has a daughter in the show called Debbie, and I’m absolutely horrendous to that child; you only hear her yelling at that kid and being very bossy. So it’s great to have another kid in Billy where Mrs. Wilkinson can find this tremendous heart—though I like to think there are a couple of moments in the play where she thinks, “I must be nicer to Debbie.” [Laughs.]

Had you spent much time in London before now?
My first trip to London was on the way to the Cannes Festival in 1989 to promote the Jane Campion film Sweetie [in which Lemon played the title role of a fresh-faced young woman overly fond of junk food]. But I’ve never lived here until now. Is this not the easiest city in the world to live in? It’s a dream come true to have somebody not only give you a good job but to plonk you down in another country for a year and pay you for the privilege. We’re living in a garden flat, and it’s gorgeous.

And you’re here just in time for summer—or as much of a summer as London ever gets.
Yeah, but, you know, I go for the snow [laughs]. Whenever I take trips, I try to go when it’s winter. If I travel overseas and it’s summer, I might as well be home. It’s only when I’m knee-deep in snow that I realize I’m not in Kansas anymore.

Speaking of Sweetie, that small film had a big impact.
Sweetie was something very, very special for a lot of people—and a lot of people talk to me about it. It never broke any box office records, but film lovers saw it. And, of course, it introduced me to Jane, whom I’ve worked with a lot: I was in The Piano playing the companion to the unmarried older aunt of Sam Neill’s character, and I was in Holy Smoke with Kate Winslet. Jane’s one of my best friends. She’s here writing her new project and came to my opening night two weeks ago.

You've also maintained a flourishing stage and TV career at home.
Definitely. Prior to Sweetie, I’d done the Australian premiere of [Nell Dunn’s play] Steaming, playing the retarded daughter of the old woman in the show. That was my professional theater debut, and it ended up with me doing the national tour for a year. That got me into the TV scene with Prisoner and Neighbours, all off the back of Steaming in the early 1980s.

You were then in your early 20s?
Yes, which is extraordinary because I’m 38 now [laughs].

I always think it helps playing Mrs. Wilkinson if you have children yourself.
Which I do! We’ve got Darcy, who’s nine, and then a 20-year-old and 26-year-old. I inherited the big girls. [Lemon is married to musician Clive Wilson, whose first wife passed away.]

Do you think Darcy might follow you or your husband in the profession?
I don’t know, though she has, in fact, released an album. Two, actually—one when she was three and another one when she was six!