Hey, Barbara!

By Casey Neill
Barbara from Bank World has taken on a life of her own since ANZ Bank advertisements featuring the heartless bank manager hit TV screens in January.
“I didn’t expect her to take off like that,” Ms Morris said.
“I just hoped the shoot would go well and that it would be funny.”
“It’s just amazing to me.”
But there’s been a downside to the success.
“People come up all the time,” she said.
“You’ve got to be polite. I’m trying to wrangle a two and a half year old and stop him running onto the road…”
Many people now mistake Ms Morris for Barb.
“It’s disconcerting that people think I AM that character,” she said.
“They treat her like a real person. Even journalists have written Barb from Bank World with my name in brackets afterwards.”
Hills audiences can see there’s more to Ms Morris in the hit improvised stage show Spontaneous Broadway at Burrinja Café this Saturday.
Cast members use song-title suggestions from the audience to create a unique musical comedy featuring improvised solos, duets, dance numbers and plotlines.
The 8pm show on 13 November follows sold-out seasons at the Sydney Opera House, Melbourne International Comedy Festival and more.
Ms Morris has played Dame Helen Highwater in the show for the past 10 years.
“She’s a dame of West End in London, a Judy Dench-type,” she said.
“When I’m playing that character I’m really quite happy. I can get a way with a lot.”
Ms Morris was nominated for an AFI award for best comic performance in Channel 9’s Comedy Inc and has dozens of other TV and theatre credits to her name.
She last week filmed her final scene for Channel 7 police drama City Homicide after more than two years on the show with “a wonderful cast and crew”.
“I’ll really miss that,” she said.
The role as pathologist Rhonda Lafferty was a sidestep from her usual comic characters.
“It’s a nice change,” she said.
Ms Morris’s move to Upwey in March has also proved a nice change.
“I’m enjoying it more than I ever thought I would,” she said.
“It’s not too far out but you still really feel like you’re up in the hills.”
She now has a few projects in the pipeline but is yet to lock anything in. Her daughter will start school next year.
“I want to be around to help her settle in,” she said.
“But if something comes up you just have to do it. You have to take the work.”
Tickets to Spontaneous Broadway at Burrinja Café, 351 Glenfern Road, Upwey are $28 for adults and $24 concession and for Jarmbi club members.
Call Burrinja on 9754 8723 for bookings.