Perth-born actors Mandy and Hayley McElhinney are exploring their childhood in a highly personal play which sees them working together for the first time.
By Ara Jansen
It may have taken them a lifetime, but Hayley and Mandy McElhinney are finally working together. The Perth-born sisters have written and are starring in a darkly hilarious and emotional two-hander called Dirty Birds for Black Swan State Theatre Company.
You’ll probably recognise younger sister Hayley from her impressive acting CV, including more recently Mystery Road: Origins, Doctor Doctor and How to Please a Woman. Sydney-based Mandy sports an equally successful list of work in shows such as Wakefield, The Glass Menagerie and the much-loved Rhonda and Ketut.
“Mandy and I have wanted to work together for so long,” says Hayley, who now lives in Perth after working in Sydney and Los Angeles for almost two decades. “Things finally lined up and it’s interesting that the first time we step on stage together is in Perth. It feels pretty special that it’s happening here.”
The sisters had spent a long time looking for the right play or waiting for someone to ask them to work together but neither happened. During COVID, the sisters spent a lot of time on Zoom and came up with the same idea – they needed to write their own play.
“We approached Kate Champion from Black Swan and she encouraged us to keep going with the writing and to rely on each other.
“The story is many things. It’s mysterious because it’s not linear, however, the show could have only been created by us because it is about us. The characters are two women trying to figure out who they are by exploring their cultural background. They’re like bower birds trying on different personas because being themselves is excruciatingly difficult.”
The McElhinneys have mined their childhood and years of collective introspection about their Irish heritage to explore their characters’ innate longing and struggle to be themselves. It’s not exactly autobiographical but they’ve certainly drawn plenty from their lives.
The characters constantly change clothes and accents, like two children playing dress-ups in their loungeroom. They find it impossible to be themselves, run from it, dissociate and find themselves alienated and incredibly lonely.
“You can’t survive that way because it stops you really connecting and you’re not being authentic. There’s no sense of inner strength because you are constantly trying to be other than yourself. Hopefully the characters find a way to be something new – which is themselves.”
The 2023 Logie nominee says the sisters like playing the clown and we should consider Dirty Birds a bit like Chekov injected with some Monty Python buffoonery.
“We’re making a show that we would want to watch – a lot of laughs, beauty and sadness but nothing too pretentious. I’m hoping a lot of people relate to the idea of trying to be a perfect woman, which really is impossible.”
Daughters of a cray fisherman, the sisters grew up living in a caravan. With no artists in their family, Hayley says it’s pretty amazing the sisters ended up in the arts.
“Because of not having any opportunities presented to us, we became incredibly grateful for the ones that did and we became pretty ambitious. We’re grateful we have each other. We have always been really close and a bit freaky in often knowing each other’s thoughts without talking to each other.”
Working together has been such a treat. Because of their extensive acting experience and sometimes working in environments which weren’t the best, they also have a shared desire to foster a positive work environment to create in.
“Being able to set the tone has been one of the biggest joys of working on Dirty Birds. It’s an environment which is both respectful and vigorous. It’s one of the joys of getting older and being in this position – being able to create a work and create the environment you make it in.”
Dirty Birds is at Heath Ledger Theatre from November 18 – December 10