Joan Bruce

It is the mystery of acting: An actress leaves her dressing-room, and the Queen enters on-stage; or in the case of Joan Bruce, it was the alcoholic, Laurie, the former “Belle of Bundaberg” (This Old Man Comes Rolling Home); a music hall star and a whole cavalcade of other instantly recognisable English women (Oh! What A Lovely War); the over-sexed, working-class predator Kath (Entertaining Mr. Sloane); the ferocious, Machiavellian mother (The Anniversary), giving a performance which Bette Davis might have dreamed about; Mad Queen Margaret in Richard III;or as the landlady in Patrick White’s play The Ham Funeral, or Miriam, another alcoholic wife, in White’s Night on Bald Mountain. She created a catalogue of memorable women, and it was effortless, seemingly. For her it was simple: she learned the words, and said them! She never failed to honour the script. That was the secret to her work.

Joan Bruce and Ron Graham in the 1970s TV series Certain Women

Joan Bruce with Jenny Lee, Queenie Ashton, Judy Morris, June Salter and Elisabeth Crosby in Certain Women

At The Playhouse, her Auntie Mame to Rosemary Barr’s Gooch was hysterical; together with the late Neville Teede she was a searing Martha to his Geroge in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, with Gerry Atkinson and Judy Wilson, and directed by Edgar Metcalfe; and in Othello a dedicated Emilia to Jennifer West as Desdemona, Frederick Parslow as Cassio, James Beattie as Iago, Neville Teede as Lodovico, and the Moor was Ron Haddrick, directed by Robin Lovejoy, at the New Fortune Theatre, Perth, 1965. It was quite a production!

Joan never talked about acting but she taught you everything. She just did it without any fuss. Sitting and watching her work was fascinating and profoundly frustrating. She gave no sign of how—but every indication of why. Her concentration in the rehearsal room was intense, but personal. She would laugh and joke but in a nano-second was back-on-track. She knew intimately every one of those women whom she played, but never talked about them. Joan could go from prim to risqué without turning a hair. She played above and below stairs with the same aplomb. It was intuitive. She was a clever actor, without guile, a highly developed sense of humour, and sometimes colourful language. She was across every performance genre. She did it all!

Joan Bruce and John Adams in The Ham Funeral, Union Hall, Adelaide, 1961

Joan was gifted a musical ear and was especially adept at English regional accents. She could jump from one to another without hesitation. When I came to audition for the ABC Drama Department, Perth, she took the time to help me perfect the obligatory three dialects. An extemporisation on Little Miss Muffett using a broad North Country sound was very funny. I suspect it was this comedy ingredient which brought me success.  

Curiously, Joan was without ambition—she was a jobbing actor; consequently, she was rarely out of work. On the occasions when she was not appearing in a play at the Community Theatre, she worked in the theatre office. She was a trained short-hand typist. It is forgotten, in the late 1960s she was the television-face of Golden Fleece service stations in a series of memorable commercials. 

Joan Bruce with Garry Meadows on The Garry and Joan Show

In Perth Tonight—Joan Bruce, Keith Mackenzie (Director), Garry Meadows and Gary Carvolth

She trained at LAMDA, London, and worked in provincial weekly repertory before moving to Perth with her husband, the Australian-born Frank Baden-Powell. I cannot recall Joan giving a bad performance, ever. She was charming company with an intolerance for fools. While she was not an academic, she had an easy way with words. Her thoughts were quick and concise. On stage she was notoriously prone to laughing. It was common knowledge, and something of a joke. If anything funny occurred which was not part of action there was every possibility Joan Bruce would get the giggles, and she would have an accident! Quite often, she did! Productions where she was required to drink on stage were problematic for stage management. 

She and the late Garry Meadows were one of the first on-air duos in Australia to present a morning-radio show. The Monday-Friday, one-hour, call-back and chat program—The Garry and Joan Show—on 6PR, Perth, was a ratings-winner. The audiences adored her. Also, they combined forces when Garry took-over compeering In Perth Tonight on TVW-7. When they made personal appearances, thousands of people gathered to greet them. It was a phenomenon. Joan embraced the experience, but was not prepared to take it seriously. She was an actress. When the theatre came-calling she left without hesitation, or regret. They tried several replacements, but none had the impact, or the magic, of Joan Bruce.

Jennifer West

James Beattie and Rosemary Barr at the The Playhouse

Those years at The Playhouse with Joan Bruce, and her string of sparkling and brilliant performances are seared into my memory. Fellow actor, Rosemary Barr, who appeared with her in many plays, said: “We were so lucky to have her. Without realising, it was she who set the standard for us!”

I was a fan of Joan Bruce. In the end, we were robbed. She retired too early. There were still many performances to be given.

The cannon of Joan Bruce’s work is testament to her exceptional talent.