Some 40 years after she first joined A Country Practice, Georgie Parker is heading back to Wandin Valley… sort of.
The actress, who originally played nurse Lucy Gardiner, is headlining a new play that goes behind the scenes of A Country Practice’s most-memorable story line – the death of Anne Tenney’s beloved character Molly Jones from cancer.
Titled How To Plot A Hit In Two Days , the play will premiere in August at the Ensemble Theatre in Sydney, and runs until October.
Written by self-confessed A Country Practice fanatic Melanie Tait, the comedic play imagines two days in the writers room of the iconic 1980s Aussie soap opera. The writers must come together and figure out how best to deal with Molly’s death.
Who is Georgie playing?
Georgie plays Judy, the head writer. Also in the cast are Amy Ingram, Genevieve Lemon, Seán O’Shea and Julia Robertson.
“[Judy] kind of handles the serious storylines,” Georgie explains. “She’s the one who handles the drama. Everyone’s pitching their idea of what they think should happen but she’s the one who has to knit all the ideas together and come up with the actual story.”
It’s the perfect time for the play to be staged. As commemorated by New Idea, this past June marked the 40th anniversary of Molly’s death. The storyline is still regarded as one of the most heartbreaking moments on Australian television.
A Country Practice cast memories
It’s not surprising that Georgie has signed up for the play.
Having upped her theatre work in the last few years, she has nothing but fond memories of her time in Wandin Valley. She remains close with many of the A Country Practice cast, and has previously said she would reprise her role of Lucy if a revival were ever to enter production.
“If they wanted me to make an appearance as Lucy, I’d do it but at the same time I think it’s really important to keep investing in new drama and new ideas because the way we look at ourselves has changed a lot since those days and the face of Australia has changed a lot,” the Home and Away star said in 2018. “But would I want to do it? Yes!”
But with no recent updates on the rumoured reboot, this play is proving to be the next best thing!
“[It]’s bold, it’s adventurous, and it’s hugely funny,” Georgie says. “I think A Country Practice resonated with Australian audiences because it was primarily about a very small town where everyone knew each other, everyone kind of looked out for each other but it was full of very different characters.”
The creators have stressed that How To Plot A Hit In Two Days is a fictional play “imagining the machinations of a hypothetical writers’ room” and is not affiliated with A Country Practice.
