Pop: Brooke Satchwell cleans up on stage

Pop: Brooke Satchwell cleans up on stage

I have a soft spot for Brooke Satchwell, and not just because her ex was a douche bag (can't we all relate to that?) who apparently treated her like a punching bag (lest we forget, given the Australia entertainment industry's unusual penchant for elevating men of dubious character to glory by giving them plum jobs in the TV industry... but that's another post).

Then, to top that whole experience off poor Brooke (a Neighbours and Play School alumni) got caught up in the Mumbai Terrorist Attacks of 2008 (which earned her the tag: "the girl that was in the cupboard"). The girl's had a rough trot of it. Yet in public she is all grace. Clean, shiny hair (she was a Pantene girl), luminous skin and lovely manners. Plus, she's a big believer in supporting good causes, like Jon Dee's "Do Something". If there were a Nice Girls magazine, she'd be a covergirl.

A few years ago, she took some time out, telling Women's Health magazine, "When your confidence is low, you feel the need for validation. Over the last couple of years, I became a little introverted - I was getting stage fright on set and I think that's because I was uncertain about where I was going. In day-to-day life I was keeping really positive and being the person people knew me as, which then made it very difficult to do my job and disappear into another character, because in my life I was already playing a role. I got stressed that I wasn't living up to my responsibilities. That's why I took 18 months out, to investigate different paths, see what else I could do."

Satchwell's latest acting gig is in the stage show The Clean House, which is in-season in Brisbane (until July 31), described as "a comedy about clean homes and messy lives... a heart-warming story of love, loss and how laughter can heal almost everything."

I love it when homegrown TV/movie actresses take to the stage and share their talents with the public at grass-roots level (I saw Rose Byrne perform in a small play directed by her then-boyfriend Brendan Cowell in Sydney a while back... she was mesmerising and I could almost touch her!). Not too big for her boots, Satchwell is a girl-with-a-satchel kind of gal. I am definitely booking tickets (qldtheatreco.com.au) to show my support. X-Factor that.

Yours truly,
Girl With a Satchel