Miss Katherine excitedly takes afternoon tea in the beautiful garden of the very dashing Neil Hansen to discuss the story behind the The Fabulous Flag Sisters, a story about Neil’s life as a famous drag personality in Italy’s trio ‘La Sorella Bandera’ (The Fabulous Flag Sisters).
Thank you for having me in your home. This garden and this gazebo is just beautiful… You have a film coming out soon?
Yes, it is a documentary about a trio that I once belonged to called La Sorella Badeiera and my trip back to Italy after 20 years. It tells the story about how I ended up in Italy and how the phenomenon of La Sorella Bandieras occurred.
So, you were a huge phenomenon in Italy?
Much to my surprise, we are still running on Italian television. They also are still running our songs on the radio. We have become a national treasure – only because we are all so old [laughs]. Our show ran on television every Sunday at 6.30pm when all good Italian families were home eating pasta.
How did it all begin?
I started art school in Perth, then I went to London to do drama school. After two years, I went to Italy on a holiday and loved it so much I decided to move there. I found an agent and a photographer and was signed up after my first screen test in Rome for a huge film production called Noa Noa.
How did the The Flag Sisters come about?
I could not do any straight theatre because I could not speak Italian when I first got there. So, I turned to musical theatre, dancing and modelling. The three of us met in Italy through my choreographer. We put a show together called Carozello and performed in a gay club with a cabaret showroom upstairs in Rome. It was a hit – even Fellini and Sophia Loren came to see us! Though we had only one number in the show in which we were in drag, but one night a television network was in the audience and that is when we were ‘discovered’. From our television show La Sorella Bandieras, we expanded into movie films as protagonists and signed a record contract with C.B.S. Records. We toured Italy and played at every major opera house in Italy. Our career as a trio ran for 15 years.
What bought you back to Australia?
We had reached our peak. We were still being very well paid but we were getting less work and we realized it was not something we could do for the rest of our lives. Because The Flag Sisters were so famous in Italy, it was impossible to get work doing anything else. I am from Perth and my family is here so I decided to come home.
Aside from theatre are there any other passions?
My next great passion is gardening.
Yes you have a beautiful, beautiful garden… [sigh, flirt, sigh]
I have loved gardening since I was a child. My grandmother had a sprawling garden up on Gooseberry Hill, which I suppose sparked my passion. When I returned home I was quite lost for a while because everything had changed so much after 22 years, I had to make new friends and get used to an Australia that was so different to the one I had left. I ended up going to Murdoch and studied Horticulture. After that I started Neil Hansen Landscapes, which has been very successful.
Do you have any plans for the future?
I would like to maybe look into Australian film and television. I had a cameo role in Pipedreams on the ABC, and I was one of the judges in The Best, a cooking show on television. So, I am starting to dabble a little bit and it has whetted my appetite!
