Playing Mum

                                     Photo: Jess Husband
Amanda Marsden as "White"    

by Carissa Pritchard

Amanda Marsden is always playing Mum, even though she has no kids - "Because of my age I’m always up for the ‘nurturing mother’ role." In Reservoir Cats, she plays "White" and says, "I loved the movie and the idea  - I don’t often get the chance to play a character like this."  

I also played mum this morning, one day a week I can't make it on set as I take my daughter to a local playgroup. I’m fortunate enough to rent part of a house in an affluent north shore suburb, but unfortunately it means I meet mothers like this:

Brunette: “So the tiles were delivered last week and they’re absolutely terrible! Not what I ordered at all.”

Blonde: “Oh, I can’t stand that.”

Brunette: “Now I have my tiler just sitting around. I’m paying him an hourly rate of… Well, I don’t know... But the point is, he’s sitting around idle.”

I assume his hourly rate is more than my Target top and jeans, but probably less than her Chanel shoes. The Blonde confers:
“You know the wall I had rendered last week? They said it would take a week to dry. How am I supposed to get the painter back now?”

Brunette: “Tell me about it. The new tiles have arrived and the tiler now has some problem with his hand, some kind of nerve damage – he had to go to the hospital. I have no idea when he’s coming back.”

Blonde: “You poor thing.”

Amanda said she admired that Garnet, “has a dream and doesn’t let money stop him.” What happened to these women’s dreams? Or worse, was it marrying rich? I wonder what they think of work.  

Blonde: “It’s awful when your husband comes home grumpy.”

Brunette: “I know. It’s so important for them to love their job.”

The Blonde’s mobile rings, she walks away.

The Brunette’s daughter toddles past in an apron, pushing a pram and holding a bag.

Brunette to another mother: “Oh look at her multi-tasking! She’s the perfect housewife!”

The Blonde dashes back to her daughter, snatches her from the toy kitchen and yells, “We have to go. The painter’s on his way over now!”

Ironically, we have a rendered wall in our house too. It’s been like that for a few months, but we’re not waiting on a painter. The difference is, that my flatmate actually paid for that wall, in fact, she bought all the walls in the house, all by herself. She didn’t marry a man for money; she went to work, she says, “as a lowly secretary”. She rented out the bedrooms to help pay the mortgage and now she owns it. My daughter is fortunate enough to be raised in a home with an unpainted wall.

Contrary to what she said, Amanda doesn’t stop being a “nurturing mother” on Reservoir Cats. When my daughter’s old enough to watch it, she’ll see a woman following her dreams and inspiring her to follow her own. Isn’t that a mother’s role?

Georgia wears Target twin set - $8. Glasses - $25.
Unpainted wall: priceless.

CLAIMER: The dialogue used in this blog is purely accurate. As unbelievable as it sounds, I can't take credit for making it up.