Shane Feeney-Connor

The Wentworth Star

I said to the writers, 'Does he get out of this? Are we looking at the character with a bit of optimism, who actually overcomes his problem?' They said, 'Yeah, yeah.' Then he dies of a fucking drug overdose! I remember one week he was off his face, on cocaine and speed and heroin! - We met up with Shane one glorious day, down at St Kilda Beach.

Shane, let's get down to the nitty gritty, did you perform your own stunts on Prisoner?
Most of them, but there were a couple that were performed by a stuntperson, Glenn Ruehland. He stands in for me. I feel that we work well together, really well and I trust him. If he thinks I'm capable of something he'll give me the nod, but if he thinks it's a little bit risky he'll do it. I went through a plate glass window and went into a ten feet spin drop. Glenn trained me for that though! There were a couple of motorbike stunts I didn't do even though I grew up with motorbikes, but I did most of them myself.

Was Prisoner your first television role?
It was my first taste for an extended period of time because I wasn't used to having to sustain a character for three or six months. Prior to that I'd done a movie called Emerging, which was an ABC television movie. I won an award that year, 1984, for Best Performance In a Film. A Penguin Award. I don't know if they still have Penguins but they were from the Television Awards Society. I'd done small bits in Cop Shop etc. I felt my work was pretty bad, tacky etc. Prior to Prisoner was a learning ground for me, in terms of cameras and television.

Is there an abundance of work for you now, since Prisoner?
I'd say I'm becoming more choosier about the roles I do. I don't necessarily think they're becoming more glamorous, so therefore I spend a lot more time unemployed but the work I do is much more satisfying.

What do you do during breaks in work?
I haven't had a lot lately. I've just done two television series in the last while, flying between Sydney and Melbourne. I came down to Melbourne from Sydney two years ago, bought a mountain bike, so I ride around St Kilda, everywhere. It's just a fucking great place to live! Sydney's where you go for a party. Melbourne's where you come to get over a hangover! So what do I do? I do a fair bit of writing and I get involved with a lot of Fringe work, down here. It's fairly rewarding. It's quite a happening thing, much more than Sydney.

How many authentic Bikies were you working with on Prisoner?
There's one particular scene, Slasher's funeral and they were all Bikies, except for me and Sean Scully. And I think it was real Jim Beam we were drinking too! We were recording it about 7, in the morning. At that time I was also doing a stage show at night as well, so it was like a funeral because I'd been partying the night before and then the Jim Beam, first thing in the morning, so it was very ugly, very authentic (Laughter)! All the Bikies were their girlfriends and it wasn't too different to the way they treated them, for real. It was like Wow! I personally wouldn't treat anyone like that. I sort of cringe with embarrassment when I look at reruns, in terms of the work. I was very young and I'd only been out of Victoria College of the Arts at that point.

Was Bongo a difficult character to play?
I was working two jobs at the time. In terms of doing an ongoing thing, if you're given a guest role or a role in a film it has a beginning, a middle and an end, so you can plot the character really well. When it's ongoing you can't do this, you can only start something and take it as it comes. So, I found it hard not knowing what was going to turn up next week. 'So how do I play it this week?' I'd ask myself. But I needed to learn, all you can do is be very truthful to the situation you are in.

Did you have any input into the development of Bongo?
Yeah. I think that's one of the reasons they got him back because of what I did with him. They can write for him but it's how I say them. That's my input!

I see that you've recently worked with a few ex-Prisoner cast in Heartland etc, is there a reason behind this?
Who?

Genevieve, Justine.
You see, I never worked with them on Prisoner! I've known Genevieve for years, before the Prisoner days but never actually worked together, so when I said yes to Heartland, I never knew that she was going to play my wife. When I found out, I was over the moon! I've wanted to work with her for a long time. We're great friends. And Justine, who played Ann Reynolds' good friend Pamela Madigan, well, we've done a couple of plays, about three years ago. I never met her on Prisoner even though we were in about the same time. We had a ball in the play. So working with her was fucking great! Really a top lady, ver approachable and good fun!!!

What do you feel about Heartland's quality?
Yeah, it was fantastic! I've just finished that. It's one of the best jobs I've done in ten years! But then, it took them a long time to talk me into doing it as well, because I was very wary about doing it.

Is it hard to find quality work these days?
Yes, in this country especially. We tend to cast celebrities rather than actors and that was the other thing about Prisoner, in terms of women it used, they cast actors! Glenda was great! Maggie was great! Most of the women I remember were fantastic. Look at the quality of Neighbours or Home and Away and shows like that, which most young actors cut their teeth on. It's nowhere near the quality of Prisoner and I didn't know this at the time because I was young and in retrospect after being in the business for ten years, and I don't mean to make it more than it was, but it was a break in Australian television. Yeah, there was a really good cast back then. For one, you had scenes with just women. That was unheard of and is basically unheard of since!

Why were you hesitant towards the role in Heartland?
It was a very hard role and I was worried as to whether I could do it justice. It was a bit close to the edge for me, every which way, politically and emotionally. I worked with Bruce Best, the producer who I think is one of the best producers in the country! Ro Hume wrote the scripts for Heartland and is probably the best director I've ever worked for and also Scott Hartford-Davis. I think he's going to be fantastic!

Was there a relaxed feeling on the Heartland sets, considering that negative feelings were to be portrayed against the Koori characters?
You have to answer that on two levels. Firstly my impression as an actor on the set was that the producers and Ernie Dingo and Bob Maza went to great extents to make it true to a Koori community. Now, both parties came to a meeting place, so both parties were there, for the same reason and both parties were there in my opinion, for the right reason. So it has a sense of what the white society has done because the white people on that shoot were aware of that and were working towards the same end. In terms of the feeling on the set, I've never ever been on a set that had a better feeling, a happier feeling. Ernie said to me when we first went onto it, that he wanted it to be a family type thing, because that is a very big part of the Koori culture, and it was! It was an amazing set to work on. That doesn't mean it wasn't without arguments, but they were arguments about the story. They were positive, creative arguments, not about bullshit.

Did you ask for Bongo to be written out because of other commitments?
I can't remember. I know Poor Man's Orange with Anne Phelan was coming up and another film as well so I think I was committed to something else but I don't know if the writers had already written Bongo out.

Have you ever been anti-establishment like your alter ego?
Fuck yeah! Right through my youth. You should see all my report cards and suspensions from school! They tried to expel me three times from school! It's not so much anti-authoritarian, it's asking questions and we all have different ways of asking questions. I guess I was fairly rough in my youth, but I was walking down the wrong road and there wasn't anyone really, to point me down the right road. How could they? I have a problem with authority even now I think we all should! It's a really healthy place to be, it's just how you use it. I think we should be questioning authority every day we live because if someone is telling you what you should or shouldn't do, they're having control over you.

Did you do any research for Bongo?
I don't know from a writer's point of view, those guys were writing pretty much on their feet. They don't get a lot of time for research, so in terms of quality sense it was pretty good. I, on the other hand, had friends who have been into drug situations and I used a lot in my own experiences as a kid. I've had hard times and I have brothers and sisters that I love. It's all a sense of truth, emotionally, a different truth. But I also did research, looking around Melbourne. You pick out someone on the street and you think, 'There's something about that guy, that says "Bongo"' and I observe them. You can't be the character you play. I think if anyone says they can, they're kidding themselves!

Would an actor ever want to be a character they've portrayed?
I've had times where I've taken on a character and I've had a problem de-rolling from it. All the time! I don't know an actor who doesn't. It's like going to play something every day. It's hard to go home and switch off and do something else. It takes a lot of practice to do that. De-rolling needs to happen. The reason why you don't get a lot of actors saying it these days is because no-one roles up! (Laughter) In Prisoner there were people who were taking on roles and they were playing characters! Maggie Kirkpatrick, she was playing a character, she's not like that! You give me one show today, apart from Heartland and a few other ABC shows, on commercial television, where they are actually playing characters!

So what has changed?
I think we base it on the American role these days! You get a lot less people in there who can actually act, who are actors. I'm not being detrimental to them because I respect them because it takes a lot of hard work to be a celebrity.

What are your future plans for your career?
Basically, my biggest ambition at this time is to see Collingwood win the 1994 Grand Final for Aussie Rules football. If that happens my life is going to take a turn. If that can happen my life will be made! If they fail I'll be supporting them for the 1995 flag.

Thanks for your interview.
No worries.

NB. Collingwood did not win! Shane has most recently been seen in the first series of Fire.