_{Commercial surfing has long been epitomised by a masculine bravado and an air of nonchalance. Theatre veteran Catherine Văn-Davies, and newcomer Megan MacKenzie inject new life to the story of 70s Australian surf culture in ABC’s Barons. SIDE-NOTE caught up with the two Australian actors in a sitting lensed by Julian Shultz.}

_{How did you first get into acting?}

_{CAT – I trained as a dancer when I was young until I was about 14 or 15 so I had a love for performance. Like most kids in the 80s, I wanted to be a marine biologist or work in anything physical. I loved sport, not that I would ever work in sport as an athlete, but I played a lot of sport. I was in a drama class with two people so the thought of pursuing something in the arts or in performance felt very unlikely but I had a really great drama teacher who was just like you should investigate this further. I tried acting my first year out of high school but I didn’t get into drama school, I did a year of business but then I was working with a bunch of film makers and actors and they said to me, I really think you should try again. The following year I tried again and I did my fine arts degree in acting.}

_{MEGAN – Originally I did dabble with acting when I was in LA a couple of years back and I was going quite rogue and it didn’t feel right. It was a bit of an interesting industry at the time as well… I thought maybe this isn’t for me… Then I moved to Australia for love, my boyfriend is Aussie, I met a few people in the industry and I fell back in love with acting. It gave me faith in the industry again. We’ve come a long way in a short amount of time and I got back into classes. I then heard about this role in Barons and was able to read the script and I fell in love with Kelly Fox. I was going to do anything to get into that audition room and be able to play that part because I loved her. I just wanted to jump into it, especially playing an American role in my new home.}

_{-It almost seems fated in a way-}

_{MEGAN – Definitely! It was super special and there were so many blessings that came out of it. We shot during the second lock down and by then I hadn’t been home to see my family in so long. It was a gift to work during that time and do something that was so amazing.}

_{What was a favourite outfit of yours on the show?}

_{MEGAN – There were so many! I loved all of the denim, I’m such a denim person and those big flare denim pants were incredible. I also loved playing the 1920s flapper girl because that outfit was so much fun.}

_{CAT – My wardrobe was really interesting because Shirley was so well travelled, she is one of the few of the characters who actually travels a lot so a lot of my pieces would’ve actually been picked up from travel. I had an amazing leather poncho and lots of great jackets- one was made from blankets which was a replica of an original 70s piece made by the incredible costume team. I also had a really amazing chocolate brown flared jumpsuit that was proper vintage.}

_{Megan you’ve been involved in the fashion industry for so much of your life, what was it like being able to build your character through fashion?}

_{MEGAN – I loved being able to play with Kelly’s style because you see her transition from Hollywood into this surfer girlfriend. The thing I love with modelling is transforming and there are outfits they put me in that I would never wear. Definitely when putting on those bell bottoms I could really just embrace her. I also loved the natural side, we didn’t wear even a hint of make up and it was so liberating. Before this show I was wearing more make up- nothing over the top- but now I go heaps of places without it because everyone’s seen me, the truth is out.}

_{What was it like being a part of such a big ensemble cast?}

_{CAT – They’re a bunch of rat bags!!! No, I love them all. A few I had worked with before and knew personally. Ben O’Toole is a good friend. We were on a show Amazing Grace together prior and I think he is such an extraordinary actor. It’s this weird thing where you’re involved in a project with so many people and although you don’t make contact with a lot of people, you still feel close to them.}

_{MEGAN – As it was my first experience; it was a huge blessing. From the writers, producers, costume, lighting, everyone was just so divine. The fear of it not being like that was what kept me out of the industry at first and it was the polar opposite in this show. It is a credit to Australia and the way Aussies treat people with respect and love. All of the actors were so supportive, especially after knowing it was one of my first gigs, no one was making me feel that way, it was very much we were making each other better. I had a lot of zoom calls with Lincoln because we had scenes together and we have a group chat that has continued on since last year. It still goes off all of the time… drains my battery… that says something though, the fact that we’re all still so connected.}

_{Cat, after working in theatre for most of your career is acting for stage different to acting on screen?}

_{CAT – I used to think that it wasn’t that different but it is actually incredibly different in the way you approach it as an actor and also technically how you work as an actor. There is a lot more delegation in screen so you are very much there to be the custodian of your character- whereas in theatre your creatively further across the board. (In theatre) Everybody is doing what they specialise in but there are less people so there is more of a direct conversation about what your role is. With screen you don’t get to see the finished product until a year or more later and there are all of these elements you weren’t even aware of. The way acting on screen shoots out of order and how the scripts happen so quickly is very different to theatre. In theatre you are the editor at the end of the day. They’re both really interesting, wonderful and very challenging in very different ways.}

_{Do either of you have a dream role that you’d love to play?}

_{MEGAN – If I could act every day I would. I want to be challenged to try many different things and not be pigeonholed. I want to go across the board and be in an action film, I would love to do a comedy and experience all of the different genres and play into that. My dream role was to be in a period piece or to play a real person and retell history.}

_{CAT – There are so many things that I watch and think I would love to be in that. I would love to be in a Pedro Almodovar film- that would be an absolute dream. I am also a massive Lynch fan but then I also think that I would be scared to be on a Lynch project because I would hate to remove the magic… Although I’m sure it would be just as magical to work inside of it! I believe so much in the future of our storytellers that I believe that what I dream to play doesn’t even touch the surface of what is possible out there. That dream is yet to come.}

_{Cat you’ve been in the industry for 10+ years, what have you seen change and what would you want to see the industry look like in the next ten years?}

_{CAT- I want stories and characters to be as multifaceted as we are. We have to move through this thing where it is solely aesthetic and show representation as more than that, it’s more wholistic than that. We should include people who are historically underrepresented to be complex and messy and have the same level of interesting attributes and banal attributes as many other actors are afforded. I want to see more lateral casting. When people haven’t been represented before, it is really important that those people can create the blueprint and then people can have creative interpretations of that. I would love to play beyond my ethnicity as well. There have been a lot of changes in our industry in the last five years. Culturally there has been a lot of change and we’re starting to see far more representation. The way that there is an Australian surf culture show set in the 70s with not only one asian person but three… its thrilling. It is reflective of the time and in reality my character is based on a mixed race asian woman who was the first female surf photographer. It’s not like we’re just taking creative licence toward who she is, it actually existed. People try to claim this as ‘woke casting’ but it’s actually not. It’s inching closer to real life. We still have a long way to go but we are inching closer!}

_{What do you want people to take away after watching this show.}

_{MEGAN – I want people to be inspired. It’s eight hours of storytelling true to its time- whether that be characters having to come out or struggling with their businesses and having to do drug runs. I think that there’s a lot of courageous characters that are putting themselves out there and going after things. I think the visuals and all of the visual elements add to the viewers enjoyment but also I want people to be inspired by the story and the drama and betrayal because these are real aspects of life. I hope everyone somehow takes something away from this show. They were so ambitious with all of the themes we explored and I think everything was tackled so well.}

_{CAT- I really want people to be transported and excited about making their dreams a reality. I think that can happen beyond capitalism even though that’s such a big part of making a business. The dream of these characters is beyond that. The phrase, “It never used to be about the money” is referenced several times through out the piece. Sure money makes life easier but there is so much more to life than that. This show looks at how we operate socially and our connection to the environment around us and I hope it makes people feel as if they can dream.}

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_{SIDE-NOTE acknowledges the Eora people as the traditional custodians of the land on which this project was produced. We pay our respects to Elders past and present. We extend that respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples reading this}