Philippa Northeast’s Brilliant Career

Netflix’s My Brilliant Career gives Philippa Northeast the opportunity to reinterpret one of Australia’s defining literary characters. She reflects on the weight of the role, researching Miles Franklin and why this new adaptation remains true to the novel’s enduring spirit.

Way back in 2013, Philippa Northeast was on her way to audition for a role on Home and Away when she spotted a bright dollar coin on the ground. With hindsight, it was a classic case of “See a penny, pick it up, and all day long you’ll have good luck.”

She got the role and has never looked back.

Northeast isn’t quite sure what became of the coin, but its good fortune seems to have stayed with her.

“It did! It sounds like such a cliché, but it’s true,” she laughs. “Every time I see one now, I think about that moment.”

The night before our interview, she appeared as Sonya in Melbourne Theatre Company’s production of Uncle Vanya. Between Summer Bay and Chekhov there have been roles in The Newsreader, Paper Dolls and Territory. But there’s one character in particular that feels like a coming of age for the actor. She plays Sybylla in Netflix’s adaptation of Miles Franklin’s groundbreaking novel My Brilliant Career.

For the role, Northeast wanted to get as close to Franklin as she could. She wanted to understand what made one of Australia’s greatest writers tick. There was no better place to start than the State Library of New South Wales.

“Whenever I get a role, I try to dive headfirst into the research,” Northeast explains. “Luckily, Miles Franklin bequeathed her entire estate to the State Library, so I knew if I could get closer to Miles herself, I’d better understand Sybylla.

“A librarian who specialised in Miles Franklin’s work took me through the archives, especially her journals. It was surreal because they’re not preserved behind glass — they’re simply the little red notebooks she bought from a newsagent.

“The last journal I held was the one she wrote before she died. Her final entry simply read, ‘Return to bed.’ It was written in pencil because she was too unwell to hold a pen — the pen was literally too heavy.

“Holding her last words felt incredibly special. Here was someone who changed Australian literary culture forever, and I was reading the final words she ever wrote. It was overwhelming and a real privilege.”

The six-part adaptation, developed by Liz Doran and written by Doran, Sarinah Masukor and Rachael Turk, was directed by Alyssa McClelland and Anne Renton and filmed entirely in South Australia.

“We wanted to honour the heart of the novel while expanding it in ways that make it accessible for contemporary audiences,” says Northeast. “That actually felt true to what Miles Franklin herself would have wanted. She wanted people to read her work.

“There was certainly pressure (as an actor) because Sybylla is such a beloved character. She lives so deeply in people’s hearts across different generations, and I wanted to do justice to her.”

Any new adaptation of My Brilliant Career is inevitably measured against Gillian Armstrong’s celebrated 1979 outing starring Judy Davis and Sam Neill. Northeast speaks about it with genuine admiration.

“It’s an extraordinary film,” she says. “I was thinking this morning how it was one of the earliest Australian films to compete for the Palme d’Or at Cannes. It helped take Australian cinema onto the world stage.

“Judy Davis’s Sybylla has so much yearning, attitude and teenage heart. I wanted to honour what she found in that character while making sure I stayed connected to our adaptation, which goes back to the novel itself. For me, it was about preserving Sybylla’s spirit while taking her somewhere new.”

Set in turn-of-the-century Australia, My Brilliant Career follows ‘Sybylla’, a visionary 17-year-old who dreams of becoming a writer. Franklin was only 21 when the novel was published, having begun writing it as a teenager.

“When you read it through that lens, it’s extraordinary,” Northeast says. “It’s the work of someone who’s eager for life, desperate for experience and desperate to say no to the expectations placed upon her so she can say yes to herself.

“What’s beautiful is that it still feels young. It’s awkward, clunky and not structured like someone with decades of literary experience. That’s exactly what makes it feel fresh and relatable.”

Books have always played an important role in Northeast’s life. Her first introduction to My Brilliant Career came through her mother, who read it to her as a child.

“It meant so much to Mum, but I was probably far too young,” she laughs. “I was more interested in turning the pages than absorbing the words — which is literary sabotage! But the story stayed with me. Later, when I was older, I found the book again on my own, and that’s when it really resonated.

“I was lucky to grow up just before technology completely took over, so books really were our entertainment. My mum is a teacher and a huge reader, so we always had books around the house.”

Ask Northeast what she’d take to a desert island and, unsurprisingly, Franklin’s novel makes the list.

“Obviously My Brilliant Career! But recently I’ve been reading Stephen Grosz. His books The Examined Life and Love’s Labour really stayed with me. They’re about his patients and human relationships, yearning and need. They’ve fed directly into characters I’ve been playing recently, so I’d definitely take those.”

South Australia also proves to be one of the stars of the series.

“I’d already filmed half of Territory there for Netflix, so I already loved the state,” she says. “We stayed in Adelaide but travelled one or two hours every day to completely different landscapes — the coast, the bush, the Adelaide Hills and the countryside.

“The two estates where we filmed were original free-settler properties. Once production design had transformed them into period locations, it honestly felt like working on enormous theatre sets.

“Once I was in costume and standing in those environments, so much of the work had already been done for me. The world already existed around me.”

The series also expands Franklin’s world by incorporating First Nations and Chinese Australian perspectives.

“Having female producers, directors and department heads made perfect sense because this is such a singular female story,” Northeast says. “What Liz Doran has done by expanding the world is brilliant because Australia really did look like this.

“There were First Nations people — who were the first people of this country and still are — and there were Chinese Australians whose stories are part of this period too. By broadening the novel’s world, we’re honouring the reality of Australia rather than changing it.

“I often think about Nell’s search for agency alongside Sybylla’s. You’re watching two young women, around the same age, both trying to find freedom, but facing very different barriers. That gives the story so many more layers and allows more women to see themselves represented.”

Northeast is effusive about her cast mates, including Christopher Chung, Jake Dunn, Kate Mulvany, Genevieve O’Reilly and Anna Chancellor.

“Working alongside Christopher Chung, Jake Dunn, Kate Mulvany, Genevieve O’Reilly and Anna Chancellor — these incredible actors, particularly the women — was such a gift. Kate Mulvany has been this glowing light of support ever since My Brilliant Career.

“One of my favourite memories happened during rehearsals. I’d never met them before. I walked into the rehearsal room and everyone had obviously been through something emotional because they were all crying. The moment I walked in, I started crying too.

“Anna Chancellor came straight over, hugged me and said, ‘You’re our Sybylla.’

“That moment of empathy and compassion, before we’d even really spoken, created an extraordinary bond that carried through the whole production.”

ENDS