She was her biggest cheerleader and inspiration.
There is a fitting irony in the fact that Jessica Redmayne discovered Steel Magnolias, a story all about women, through the men in her life.
“My uncles introduced me to the film,” Jessica tells New Idea.
“They would quote it quite often, and one night they sat me down to watch it and I absolutely fell in love with it.”
Now, the Home and Away favourite is bringing one of its most beloved characters – the radiant, hopeful Shelby – to the stage, and she couldn’t be more ready.
After a brief opening run in Brisbane, Steel Magnolias is playing at Sydney’s Theatre Royal until June. It then tours to Wollongong, Canberra, Perth and Melbourne.
Joining Jessica in the new production are Lisa McCune as Shelby’s mother M’Lynn, Debra Lawrance and Belinda Giblin (who Jess has swapped many a Summer Bay story with!), Mandy Bishop and Lotte Beckett.
Jessica admits she was “nervous” the moment the audition landed in her inbox.
After all, Shelby was immortalised in the 1989 film adaptation by Julia Roberts. Meanwhile, a young Nicole Kidman made her theatre debut in the role.
“I’ll never try to look at what [Julia and Nicole] did, because they’re extraordinary,” Jessica concedes.
“But I feel like there’s a part of my DNA that was made to do this.”
That authenticity is exactly what Jessica brings to the role.
She says she “sees my family” in the cast of colourful Southern women.
“My dad is one of nine and he has four sisters,” shares Jessica.
“I love that it’s older female friendships and younger female friendships. It’s so relatable.”
Despite what happens to Shelby, Jessica doesn’t see her as a tragic figure.
“She is full of hope and optimism, and she doesn’t look at death as the inevitable,” she explains.
“She lives by that beautiful quote – ‘I’d rather have 30 minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing.’ We should all live by that.”
Along with establishing genuine connections with her castmates, Jessica, an early ’90s baby, is thrilled to be living in the 1980s for the next few months.
“It’s my favourite decade,” she gushes. “I feel like I was meant to be born in the ’80s! I even came to rehearsals dressed in Mum’s old acid wash jeans.”
She lobbied to have them worked into her actual costume to no avail.
A tribute to her mum
Still, Jessica feels her late mother Christine ‘Tina’ with her every time she steps out on stage.
Tina sadly passed away aged 70 in October 2023 from early-onset dementia.
She had been diagnosed in 2014, after years of showing symptoms, and lived with the disease for a decade.
Jessica notes that there is a quiet parallel between her own story and that of Steel Magnolias – although in her case, the roles were reversed and she was M’Lynn.
“I’m not in the last scene and I can choose to watch it or not [from the wings] because it does move me quite significantly,” she says softly.
“I watch Lisa play the mother of Shelby and be so heartbroken and I see me, Jess, in Lisa. It’s very moving.”
Jessica credits her mum for giving her the confidence and grit to pursue acting.
“Mum is the reason I do this,” she adds. “She encouraged me to no end.
“There was never any doubt in her mind – she was always ‘you’re going to be able to do this’.
“She’ll be watching from the balcony, up in the lights.”
Is Jessica Redmayne still in Home and Away?
Jessica is slated to perform in Steel Magnolias until it finishes it’s run in Melbourne in early August.
When the play’s three-month run was announced, along with Jessica’s casting, many Home and Away fans were concerned it meant the actress would be leaving her role as Harper Matheson for good!
However, Jessica is quick to reassure New Idea that she’s not leaving the long-running Channel Seven drama.
Producers simply worked out way that allowed Jessica to step away from Summer Bay for a bit and tour the country with the play.
“I am still definitely very much on the show,” she stresses. “Obviously there is scheduling around that, which we had to make to allow me to go off and do Steel Magnolias.“
