In a stellar career, spanning more than three decades, in which she’s played everything from a police officer and a lieutenant in the navy to an alien grandmother, there’s not much that former Blue Heelers star Lisa McCune hasn’t achieved.
But it’s her latest role as a fiercely loving mother that hits closest to home for the four-time TV WEEK Gold Logie Award winner. In the latest stage production of Steel Magnolias, Lisa plays M’Lynn Eatenton – the role famously taken by Sally Field in the 1989 film.
“I have a daughter who’s pretty much the same age as [her character’s daughter] Shelby, and it’s really interesting, that mother–daughter relationship,” Lisa, 55, tells TV WEEK, referring to her own daughter, Remy, 20.
“I’m really glad that I have a daughter that age, because she will talk to me and communicate with me in a way that she would never do with anybody else, because I’m her mum.
“And the guard comes down, and you tell your mother off, and you have those hard conversations. And so, I recognise a lot of that stuff in the play, and it’s really lovely.”
The 1987 play, set in the American South, was written by Robert Harling and turned into the hit Hollywood movie starring Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine and a young Julia Roberts as Shelby.
Lisa says some of the lines of the play, especially when Shelby is talking about not having to worry about her health because her mother, M’Lynn, will do that for her, perfectly encapsulate the meaning of motherhood.
“It’s sometimes about the silence and just sucking up a little bit of the pain and just knowing when to put a lid on it. I’m not very good at that.”
Researching the play, which Harling based on his own experiences of family and grief after losing his sister, Susan Harling Robinson, to diabetic complications in 1985, helped Lisa ground her performance in truth.
“There’s even a beautiful inscription at the front of the play that says these women are real,” Lisa says. “Basically, it’s an instruction from the writer that they must be played as real.”
The play centres on the hair salon where six ladies meet and chat. Essentially, Steel Magnolias celebrates the bonds of female friendship. And it’s something Lisa can relate, once again, to her own experience of being a mother.
“I’ve had a mother’s group since my first son was born and I met them through the local council and… you have people who are going through what you might be at a given time and they’re just non-judgemental and a wonderful support,” she says.
Not to give anything away for those who don’t know the story, but the play certainly packs an emotional punch (“I hope audiences cry”). And its appeal crosses all demographics of age and gender.
Recently, Lisa was running a scene from Steel Magnolias with one of her sons, an avid reader, who, she says, “knows his stuff”. He was floored by what he was hearing. “I read one of my big speeches at the end with him,” she says. “He just kind of paused before his line and he went: ‘Gee, that’s a pretty well-written speech, isn’t it?’
“It really kind of struck him. I think it’s because … the emotional side of this play, people will be moved by the truth of it.”
The role of diabetic Shelby, who remains optimistic despite her health struggles, is played by Home and Away favourite Jessica Redmayne. Lisa says Jessica is “very open, very capable and adorable” and, importantly, she has a “beautiful sparkle”, just as Shelby should.
“She’s such a girl,” Lisa says of Shelby. “She’s beautiful and Jess does that effortlessly, as Julia Roberts did. It made Julia Roberts a star.”
Lisa’s own path to stardom was forged by her portrayal of Senior Constable Maggie Doyle in TV drama Blue Heelers. More recently, she showed another string to her bow by competing in – and winning – Dancing with the Stars in 2024.
Reflecting on the experience, Lisa says her “feet were so wrecked” by the end of the series. “I worked really hard,” she says. “It was just such a different discipline and way of dancing. I’m really glad I did it.”
And does that mean she’s open to doing more reality TV?
“I don’t think I would ever do reality where people would get to see me at my worst,” she laughs. “I said to somebody once about doing I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! Nobody wants to see me really get cranky!”
Oh, but maybe they do…
“Never say never,” she teases. “I like the idea of the challenge. That really excites me, to see how extreme you can go. The people I know that have done it have come away going, ‘It was a really extraordinary experience.’ You just go, ‘Oh, really? What did you get out of it?’”
Last year Lisa was on Taskmaster, which allowed her to flex her ‘theatre sports’ muscle. But she also longs for a meaty role in a TV drama.
“I would love to do a political whistleblower–spy sort of thing,” she admits, referencing Killing Eve.
“Something really interests me about that kind of fare.”
She is hopeful local audiences aren’t “burnt out” from watching so much reality TV – and still have the appetite for TV drama she does.
“I just love my television,” she smiles.
Steel Magnolias is currently touring Australia, see steelmagnoliasplay.com for details.
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