THE GAB

Lee Lewis has a touch of stage fright.

You’d think the fear glands would have well and truly crusted over by now, what with the three-decade career in theatre, the teaching spots at NIDA, the 10 years of acting on- and off-Broadway and the directorial resume that includes main-stage stints at Belvoir St Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company.

Then again, she’s never had to go up there and tell the truth before. Not like this.

“I’m not a fan of bringing people into the rehearsal room. A little peek behind the curtain is okay,” she laughs. But this time it won’t be a peek into a production, it will be into Lewis herself and her life in theatre. There is plenty to draw on, given that she made her board-treading debut at the tender age of three.

“I was a bluebell. One of a group of bluebells, I wasn’t a solo bluebell. But I do remember I shaped much prettier petals than the other bluebells, and I remember getting a bit aggravated whenever the others got too close,” she remembers.

If she’s been keeping it in all this time, now’s her chance to let it out: Lewis is on the bill for The GAB, an evening of story-telling à la The Moth and, closer to home, Yarn.

Pitched as a fundraiser for the Actors Benevolent Fund, GAB – which will star directorial luminaries including John Bell, Wayne Blair and Stuart Maunder – follows the same rules: no notes, no make-believe.

That’s the bit that has Lewis nervous.

“I’m just thinking I could make it up, you know,” she whispers conspiratorially.
She won’t – partly because it’s for charity, and, well, you just can’t lie for charity – and partly because the night’s theme, ‘Baptisms by fire: tales of first times’, has left her with a lot to draw on. She’s had her fair share of rude awakenings over the course of her career.

“I’m looking forward to a day when fire is not actually one of the factors that I’m dealing with,” she says. “No such luck yet, though.”

Nov 27, Wharf 1, Sydney Theatre Company, Pier 4/5 Hickson Road, Walsh Bay, $20-25, 9250 1777, sydneytheatre.com.au