Behind closed doors
Following three estranged siblings after their sister goes missing, the new ABC drama Significant Others takes an honest and realistic look at family dysfunction, Rachael Blake tells Siobhan Duck
CONFLICT over family inheritance, parental loss and unspoken sibling rivalries are very much the themes of Rachael Blake’s drama Significant Others. But, as Blake’s gotten older, they are also topics of conversation that come up all too frequently in her circle of friends.
“I have had many conversations about the nature of losing a parent,” she says.
“The psychology of that, because you’re now the adults in the world and also what it means around wills and what happens when they are weighted towards one person.
“I’ve had many of those conversations and the permutations of how it shows up in relationships.”
From The Sullivans to Packed to the Rafters, traditionally Australian television has been awash with happy family narratives. And, partly because of that, Blake says there is often a lot of shame associated with real-life estrangements.
“You don’t talk about it. It’s not supposed to happen,” she says, thoughtfully.
“We’ve all got this idea that families are supposed to work and that sibling relationships – as the longest ones you’ll have in your life – they are the most fulfilling. They’re the ones who’ve got your back.
“And so, all the conversations that I have with mates around sibling relationships that have broken down and wills that have gone bad and what it means when a parent has a bad death. They’re the ones that I don’t see in stories [for the screen] a lot. I suppose that’s because they are difficult to tell.”
So, when Blake first read the script for Significant Others, its honesty in tackling family dysfunction resonated. And she felt eager to be part of a series which shone a light into the uncomfortable crevices of family homes; too often glossed over.
As such, Blake hopes that Significant Others will help shift outdated ideas of what families are supposed to look like and spark some frank conversations.
“Because I think it [understanding conflict] should be part of everyday experience,” she says.
“Some families don’t work.
And in some families, siblings don’t talk. Children are estranged. You know, that’s a normal part of life. And, in my circle, that’s more common than anything else.”
Created by playwright Tommy Murphy (who also adapted Holding the Man for the screen and penned Devil’s Playground), the six-part series follows three estranged siblings who are trying to piece together their lives after their other sister vanishes on an earlymorning swim.
Blake plays Ursula, the reliable eldest sister who everybody has come to resent for being too controlling.
“I am very laid-back,” Blake says.
“If other people want something I am like: ‘Cool, you take that. I’ll just be over here doing my thing’.
So, to play someone who goes:
‘This is what I want, and I am going to bulldoze over anyone who stands in my way’ was a little uncomfortable, I have to say.”
Growing up in the UK, Blake was “cripplingly shy”. Born deaf in one ear, Blake’s mother took her to elocution lessons to help with her with speech; igniting an interest in performance.
“And it felt like home, which is what it feels like now,” she says of acting. “This is what shooting feels like to me now. It’s home. It’s a family. There’s a set family and you get to know them, and action and take is where that character lives.”
It was in her first TV “family”, on the acclaimed ABC drama Wildside that Blake met her husband,
Tony Martin.
Apart from a short stint on Home & Away, Wildside was Blake’s first major role while Martin was a screen veteran, having starred as Reverend Bob on E Street, the tough-talking teacher Southgate on Heartbreak High and the notorious real life criminal Arthur “Neddy” Smith in the 1995 miniseries Blue Murder.
“Tony had just done Blue Murder,” she recalls of their early days together. “And everyone was raving about it. But I hadn’t seen it yet. I had just come out of NIDA. And it was only my second job. So, to work with his level of ease, which I didn’t have at that point (I think I will spend a lifetime trying to be at ease in front of the camera) was just a just a great experience to be around. And then of course, I fell in love with him.”
Despite their growing attraction and mutual respect, Blake was initially hesitant to pursue a relationship with Martin.
“Being away on location you can tell who is falling in love or who is dating who in the crew and so we call them ‘locationships’,” she smiles.
“So, I was always terrified that I was in the potential of a locationship and that was what was happening
SOME FAMILIES DON’T WORK. IN SOME FAMILIES, SIBLINGS DON’T TALK. CHILDREN ARE ESTRANGED. THAT’S A NORMAL PART OF LIFE
on Wildside. So, Tony and I were so careful about it because I had signed a three-year contract and I thought, ‘Well, if this goes badly then I have to see this guy every day for three years’.
She needn’t have worried because, 23 years later, she and Martin are still very much together.
Blake would love to work with Martin again. But if she does, she
doubts it would be on a Wildside reboot. The gritty 1997 series was set in the red-light district of Sydney. Blake played a crisis centre worker, Martin an ex-cop, and both won Logie Awards for their performances.
“I think part of the reason it was so fantastic was also the reason it was so difficult to shoot,” she reflects of the series, where storylines were often inspired by headlines of the day. “And so, I don’t know that you could reboot that show.”
As a relatively new performer, Blake relished being part of a program that broke so many rules and charted new terrain.
It’s for similar reasons that she’s so proud of Significant Others, which – with its diverse casting and intriguing storyline – isn’t about a typical nuclear family living in the suburbs.
“That’s what I love about it,” she enthuses. “That it’s a take on a family where things aren’t always happy.”