There would be very few adult Australians who are not familiar with Noni Hazlehurst. Whether it’s from her work on Play School, Better Homes and Gardens, Every Family Has a Secret or her stage work, Noni is a national treasure.
Celebrated film, theatre and television actor Noni Hazlehurst has graced our screens, stages and airwaves for fifty years. Hazlehurst’s extensive body of work has earned her numerous accolades including multiple Australian Film Institute (AFI) and Critics Circle Awards, and two Logie Awards for Best Supporting Actress. In 1993 she was awarded a star on the Adelaide Festival Centre Walk of Fame and in 2016 she was inducted into the Logies Hall of Fame.
Noni is returning to Adelaide Festival Centre’s Space Theatre from June 25 – July 5 for the South Australian premiere of The Lark — a powerful, moving meditation on life, death and change.
Noni spoke to Glam Adelaide about The Lark and performing in a one-woman show. She also shared about her time on Play School and performing as her career path.
“It’s what I have always wanted to do. I’m a fourth-generation performer. My maternal great-grandfather was a member of the Flying Hanlons, an acrobatic troupe that toured America and Europe in the 1870s. So performing goes back a long way. My parents were both in vaudeville before the Second World War. They met when they were on the same bill. My brother, we sort of call him the black sheep because he’s an academic. He didn’t go into show business. One of my sons is also a performer, so it never occurred to me to do anything else.”
For many Australians it was Noni’s work on Play School that we remember. We asked Noni what it was like working on the show.
“We treated the camera as if it were one child, so it was a direct interaction even through a vicarious medium like television. It was a direct interaction that resulted in an interaction with the child. So I didn’t feel I had no one to interact with; I was interacting with the child on the other end of the camera. What it taught me more than anything was how to be in the moment and to stop performing. John Hamblin taught me that because he was so natural and present. We rehearsed the thing 5 times before we ever taped it. It was a 32-page script with no autocue, no prompting, and it was very technical in terms of placing things to camera and close-up and checking the monitor. It was a really strict science, but the key was to be yourself. I spent the first year being very prim and proper before I realized you just have to be yourself. If we made a mistake, they wanted us to work through it. They wanted you to model that practise makes progress and that you can problem solve. So it really changed me a lot, not only in terms of performing, but also that it was okay to be yourself. The child’s not judging you – you’re telling a story to the child. Same as in adult entertainment, you’re just telling a story. That’s all I have to do to the best of my ability. So it really had a profound effect on me.”
Originally commissioned and produced by Arts Centre Melbourne and Hey Dowling, The Lark is the second offering from the creatives behind award-winning 2015 solo production Mother. Together, internationally recognised Australian playwright Daniel Keene, director Matt Scholten, and Noni Hazlehurst produce a profoundly moving work, exploring emotive social issues rooted in straightforward storytelling and superb acting and direction.
“We worked together to bring Mother to life, which unfortunately never made it to Adelaide. But it’s a partnership that started with Matt. He worked a lot on Daniel’s plays over the years. He was a colleague and friend of mine, and he introduced me to Daniel. I mentioned I wanted to do a one-woman show at some point so he got Daniel and me together, and we talked about themes that interested us. Ten days later, he came up with Mother which we toured for over ten years. A couple of years ago Daniel mentioned he was writing another play, The Lark, and it just seemed an obvious step for the three of us to collaborate again. Daniel’s writing is just exquisite and it’s such a privilege to not only be able to perform it but have it written for me. It’s the greatest gift. The great writers write to serve humanity, and all my job is to serve the great writers, and that’s what I want to do. Daniel’s words are so beautiful and so evocative and moving, but he also has that larrikin black humour that’s so Australian that I love. The two characters he’s written for me, Mother and Rose, are so complex. It’s so interesting that a man can write for a woman with such understanding.”
We asked Noni what it like working in a one-woman show with no other cast members to bounce off against during scenes.
“In The Lark, I’m interacting with the audience, so they are my co-star, if you like. I have to be intensely aware of every sound, every reaction, every cough. You have to be really, really alert to what you’re creating in that moment. It’s such a wonderful challenge to launch into it every night. The thought of doing it is quite daunting, but the act of doing it is very rewarding because it is like going on this incredible ride every night. And who knows what’s going to happen? Every time I do a return season too, the characters become different because I’ve changed. I’ve got older, I’ve had more experience of life. So I find that fascinating.”
This acclaimed show follows Rose Grey, facing her final goodbye to The Lark, a small inner-city Melbourne pub slated for demolition. Rose is now 75 years of age, and this building has been her entire life. Her memories, both bitter and sweet, bind her to The Lark more strongly than she realises. As memories overwhelm her, Rose must break free from the past before it claims her forever.
“I can’t wait for audiences to experience this deeply moving and evocative study of a life and leave in a reflective mood. I think it creates a desire to reflect on life. It’s a really intimate, shared vision of what a life might mean or not mean in the grand scheme of things. So every audience member is going to react differently. It’s my pleasure and my privilege to tell this story.”
The Lark will be playing in the Space Theatre at the Adelaide Festival Centre from June 25 for a limited season.
“I can’t wait to be back in Adelaide. I studied at Flinders uni in 1971, which was the very beginning of their acting course. I was also in a production of The Fantasticks that was one of the first performances in the Space Theatre. I had three extraordinary years in Adelaide during the Dunstan period. He was so proactive regarding the Arts. His legacy is still there with the Festival Centre for a start. So it really is something I’m immensely excited about.”
The Lark
Space Theatre – Adelaide Festival Centre
25 June – 5 July 2026
https://www.adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au/whats-on/the-lark
Photo credit: Cameron Grant, Parenthesy
