Home and Away star Jacqui Purvis speaks out about her New Project – Emotional & Unexpected

Home and Aways. Jackie Pervvis wants to make a difference with her surprising new project.
It’s kind of dangerous. It’s emotional.
Jackie Pervvis captured Home and Away fans hearts with her stint on the soap as Felicity Newman, the fierce yet vulnerable character who had an epic love story with Tarn Parata.
when she was killed off in August 2024 with a surprise brain aneurysm. Viewers were devastated to see her go, but interested to see where her acting talents would take her. After taking some time to work on her screen career and traveling to the USA, she’s been cast in a big film fear is the writer.
Jackie has made a surprising decision to return to Australia for her first professional theater role.
The actor founded her own production company, Knickknack Productions, to flip the script on female narratives and wants to create more strong femaleled content.
Her new play, Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, written by John Patrick Shanley, will be playing at the Old Fitz Theater in Melbourne from January 13th until February 1st, 2026. It’s a gritty, violent, and romantic play featuring two characters with the other lead played by Jackie’s real life boyfriend, JK Catsy.
It’s kind of dangerous. It’s emotional.
It’s kind of violent, but it’s also got romance. And at the base of it, it’s love. It’s about love and connection.
And I thought it was a really great time to do it at the moment because we’ve kind of drifted from human connection.
Jackie tells Jackie chose to produce Dany and the Deep Blue Sea partly because her character Roberta is such a strong female character who breaks out of the boxes so many are placed in.
Everything’s put out onto the table. All your dirt and grit and messiness and everything. I think that’s what I love about strong female characters, the messiness. And I don’t want to shy away from that because that is a part of us.
She explains, “When the former Home and Away star was growing up, she had a passion for sports and action films, but failed to see herself reflected in many of the roles, joking she wanted to be Matt Damon. This has influenced her ethos going forward, and it’s why she plans to make a change.
I wanted to see strong, gritty female characters on the screen and to reflect me, you know, my life growing up. So that’s a really strong driving force of mine. So everything I do is kind of motivated by that. She says the passionate star is laser focused on her career and achieving her goals. And while preparing for Dany and the Deep Blue Sea, she traveled with JK to New York. As the show is set in the Bronx, while she was there, the writer John Patrick Shanley agreed to meet for coffee. He’s won Oscars, Pelitzas, Tony Awards, Golden Globes, and more. So, Jackie was grateful he made the time to answer their questions.
It was so surreal because here’s this incredible writer who’s shaped modern theater and worked with Meil Stre and Philip Seymour Hoffman and Viola Davis.
We actually got a lot of his insight into him writing it, why he wrote it, the characters who were very personal to him. Jackie recalls, “We actually then traveled to the Bronx and went to the area that he kind of grew up and got a feel for that culture,” she adds.
Jackie calls her new play a massive challenge.
Going from the screen to stage is no easy feat, especially when you’ve been working with multiple co-stars and story lines that don’t revolve around your character. like Jackie had on Home and Away, she tells she was searching for something to push her out of her comfort zone.
I’m so used to that beautiful big ensemble at Home and Away and having so many voices, whereas here it’s literally just JK and I, Jackie says it’s so intimate. We’re on the stage 100% of the play where we never leave the stage for that 1 hour and 15 minutes you’ve JSU got us the whole time.
So there’s no way out for us. It’s a massive challenge, but that’s why I wanted to do it because it is so different from Home and Away.
As soon as the news of the new project was announced, the Home and Away fan community expressed mixed feelings.
Many viewers believe this is a courageous move, proving that Jackie Pervvis is not just a television star, but also a serious artist who dares to take risks to make a difference.
fan comments. Both worried and admiring of Jackie Pervvis.
Immediately after the announcement of Jackie Pervvis’s new stage project, the Home and Away fan community quickly left a series of emotional comments.
Hearing Jackie say the play is dangerous and violent made my heart ache. But it’s true that she never chooses the safe path. From the strong but vulnerable Felicity to the edgy Roberta on stage, Jackie truly has a knack for characters that break the audience’s hearts.
I still haven’t gotten over Felicity’s passing. But seeing Jackie dare to challenge herself like this. I can only support her. Not every actress who leaves soap operas dares to return to the stage with only two characters. So brave.
Home and Away has lost Felicity, but Australia has gained a powerful stage actress.
The fact that Jackie started her own production company to tell women’s stories makes me respect her even more.
Acting with her real life boyfriend in such an intense play, just hearing about it is stressful.
She didn’t choose quick fame. She chose the difficult path and that’s why her fans always stay.
I miss Felicity and Tarn a lot, but I’m also eager to see how Jackie will make the audience hurt on stage.
Jackie Pervvis is not just a TV star.
She’s proving herself to be a true artist.
Producers revelation. Jackie Pervvis took a huge risk. A source close to the production team at Dany and the Deep Blue Sea revealed that Jackie Pervvis’s decision to return to Australia and venture into theater was far from safe.
even causing concern among many in the industry.
Jackie could have continued pursuing film in the US after Fear is the Rider.
But she proactively returned to do an extremely difficult play with few characters and high emotional demands.
This was a very risky choice for an actress who had just left a hugely popular soap opera. The producer shared, “According to this revelation, Dany and the Deep Blue Sea is one of the scripts that is not easily accessible to the general audience due to its edgy content, many tense scenes, and psychological violence. However, Jackie herself resolutely defended this choice.
She stated frankly that she didn’t want to return to easy to watch roles. Jackie wants the audience to feel discomfort, pain, and then think about the connection between people.
The producers also revealed that Jackie acting alongside her real life boyfriend wasn’t a PR stunt, but stemmed from very demanding acting requirements.
The role demanded absolute trust between the two actors. Jackie needed someone who dared to go to the very depths of emotion with her, and JK was the most suitable choice.
Notably, the team revealed that Jackie was involved in the project in multiple roles simultaneously, lead actress, producer, and creative director. This meant that both financial and artistic pressure weighed heavily on her shoulders.
If the play fails, Jackie will be the one most affected, but she said she’d rather fail with a work she believes in than play it safe and meaningless.
The source added that the crew witnessed Jackie crying during the first script reading, not out of fear, but because she realized the role would force her to confront the deepest aspects of herself.
She knew this was a project that could change the course of her career entirely for better or for worse.
Professionals debate heated. A brave move or a risky gamble? Jackie Pervvis’s decision to leave television and return to theater quickly sparked debate among professionals. While many praised her courage and dedication to her craft, a significant number argued it was a risky gamble for a star who had just left a hugely popular soap opera like Home and Away.
A veteran theater director in Melbourne commented, “Jackie has a strong emotional foundation, but playing two characters on stage is a huge challenge.
Audiences won’t easily forgive a lack of depth in her performance or a mismatch in rhythm.
Meanwhile, a television critic argued that Jackie was going against the usual strategy of soap opera actors after achieving fame.
Most would choose commercial films to maintain their reach. Jackie is different. She chose a heavy difficult script that isn’t for the masses.
However, on the other hand, many art experts have voiced strong support. A Sydney acting instructor shared, “The stage is where an actor’s true potential is revealed. If Jackie does well, she will move to a whole new level.” An independent theater producer commented that Jackie’s acting and producing simultaneously shows long-term ambition.
She doesn’t just want to be chosen for roles, but she wants to decide which story is told. That’s rare for actors who come from a soap opera background.
Nevertheless, there are concerns about the personal aspect of Jackie acting with her boyfriend. A theater editor frankly warned.
Intimacy offstage can make emotions more genuine, but it also carries the risk of a lack of control on stage.
Despite the conflicting opinions, most professionals agree that Dany and the Deep Blue Sea will be the most important test in Jackie Pervvis’s career since Home and Away. Either she will be recognized as a true stage artist or the audience will realize her limitations.
There are no safe zones here. It is precisely this risk that makes the project the center of attention and further fuels public curiosity about how Jackie Pervvis will overcome this challenge.
>> Thanks for watching and stay tuned for more movie spoilers next week. Goodbye and see you again.