In February 2004, I was asked to write a piece about Louise's appeal as "Lou Kelly" for a new gay magazine called "The Mag".
They were running a feature on "Prisoner Cell Block H" to coincide with the shows 25th anniversary celebrations.
You can also read this piece online here.
Please support their site as they have advertised louisesiversen.com and have some great features, thankyou!
Prisoner Cell Block H: Lou Kelly
Donna Ward talks about Lou Kelly, made famous by the cult TV series "Prisoner: Cell Block H"
Date issued: 6th Mar 2004
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I grew up watching "Prisoner: Cell Block H" and used to love it
when my Mum would let me stay up late to watch the antics of the Wentworth
women.
Over the years, I
had many favourite characters ranging from dotty old lags to the more hardened
crims that came and went, but Louise Siversen instantly stood out for me.
She progressed from a mumbling background extra to a fully fledged character;
the infamous armed robber and serial murderer Lou Kelly who made a remarkable
impact for over three years of “Prisoners” eight year run. This was a rarity
in the show to receive such a promotion, but it suited Louise perfectly and
carved a way for a career that’s still going strong over twenty years later.
Spotted by writer Coral Drouyn after being given a few lines to say at a wedding
scene early in the series, it was decided that the young Louise should be
developed into a more long term character. Due to her natural flair in delivering
quick, sarcastic put downs, comic timing and the brilliant control she has
over her facial expressions she soon swapped shuffling around in the background
for barking her own antagonistic lines to spark a rein of havoc inside Wentworth:
Lou Kelly was born!
Mention the title of the show to someone and nine times out of ten, the reply will include something along the lines of “dodgy acting and wobbly walls”, but Louise never fell into this below par category and many say, helped keep it alive during some of the slower periods. In an era of 80’s glamour soaps like “Dynasty”, Prisoner was a welcome, gritty relief, portraying strong female characters without the trappings of make up and flash surroundings, featuring often some quite shocking violence.
Along with her classic acerbic comic putdowns, snide remarks, spiteful nature plus legendary overuse of hairstyling products on a barnet that got bigger and spikier the more unhinged she became- Louise managed to bring a human side to the character. She has a subtle ability within her acting to go from raving psychopath to a genuinely upset soul with true feelings. It would have been easy to portray Lou as a stereotypical pantomime baddie, either there for some comic relief or on hand for a bashing, but over the years we did see another side to the young criminal.
She proved that Lou was a complete emotional cripple- unable to get close to anybody or show her true feelings in public. Her situation was made even sadder by the fact that she never had anybody to turn to, even right to her untimely death; Kelly was always alone and inevitably her own best friend.
Lou’s misguided, violent tendencies, neurotic and obsessive behaviour and total lack of compassion were the product of a low self esteem and rough childhood. It was the only way she knew of making her self feel important. Lou did have a tender side, shown briefly to cellmates such as Nun Anita Selby and dopey Daphne Graham, but the viewers were left to fill in gaps in her clearly undeveloped personal background.
Lou possessed a strangely feminine, fragile side which emerged from her tomboyish
façade whenever she was knocked back or abused, especially after her
rapes from bent officer Len Murphy or whilst on the run. In a split second
she could change from a tough talking, gun wielding criminal to a scared and
abused young girl - vulnerable and small, making you to want her to succeed,
despite her past nastiness.
Her spectacular piece de résistance was her riot in episode 600, which has been deemed good enough to release on DVD recently. Kelly’s finest hour arrived, after all her year’s incarcerated and hungry for the “Top Dogs” power, she finally snaps and enters the period leading to her eventual comeuppance.
Sometimes Kelly looked positively demonic with her evil glare and sarcastic sneer, but Louise's versatility could transform her from a spitting alley cat into a sulky, almost sweet kitten. She could say more with a simple look than most characters got across with a whole page full of dialogue.
Out of her old “Prisoner role”, Louise is a warm, caring, humorous and relaxed woman, with a smile that lights up the room. She has been in constant demand since leaving the show in 1986, going onto much bigger and brighter projects including notorious Australian shows “The Flying Doctors”, “Neighbours”, “Criminal Justice” (for which she received a silver Logie nomination), “Blue Heelers” and Backberner. Louise also directs, records numerous commercial voiceovers, appears frequently in theatre, writes and teaches drama.
Even to this day, she is still recognised as the vicious top dog, due to the fact that a whole new generation of fans, as well as the loyal original ones have sprung up after seeing the repeats on Australian, English, Swedish and even American television.
The appeal of Lou Kelly is a strange one; the baddy is always more interesting than the goodies so maybe it’s a “danger at arms length situation” says the woman herself - of course, you’d be terrified to meet someone as evil and unbalanced as Lou, but to watch her and anticipate her on screen nastiness is enjoyable- "I have to say that bitches are usually more interesting. They're more complex, they're more layered and they're darker", Siversen says. "There are girls in the business who who'd love to play the bitches but never get cast. I've cornered the market".
For more information on Louise, check out her official website www.louisesiversen.com