Higher power
Rebecca Gibney and Richard Roxburgh are a match made in heaven in Stan’s new drama Prosper, writes
REBECCA Gibney has done away with always putting on a brave (and glamorous) face. Fed up with seeing the unobtainable images of perfection that are peddled on social media, the Gold Logie winner has made it her mission to show fans the more relatable reality of her life.
When she first started using Instagram, Gibney – like most people – shared a predictable array of envyinducing pictures until she had an epiphany and said to herself: “‘That’s actually not me!”
“That’s hours in hair and make-up and that is curated. And so, I decided it was very important that I did go: ‘Oh hang on, here’s me without make-up and being very normal’ instead, because
I don’t live like that at all.
“I am a jeans and T-shirt girl. I do spend most of my time with dirty hair, with the dog on my lap or in the garden.”
While she’s trying to lead by example with her authentic posts, Gibney laughs: “I am at an age where I don’t really appeal to the 20-somethings because they just go: ‘You’re an old person’.”
“I think the more we can encourage, particularly our younger generation, to present those kinds of images, the better. I mean, I read something this morning that there’s a 14-year-old girl who started using retinol for antiageing and I went, ‘What?’”
Now an empty nester, based mostly in her native New Zealand, Gibney doesn’t spend as much time on social media as she once did.
“I used to be a doomscroller and I would just scroll through and go ‘Look there’s someone in Europe and another one in Europe. And one in Tuscany!’ –
I had to stop,” she smiles.
“I mean, I’m quite happy being where I am anyway. But it’s interesting that I am also not a jealous person [and I still had that reaction]. I don’t hold my life up and go: ‘Oh gosh, I wish I had that’.”
Her latest performance as Abi Quinn in the new Stan drama Prosper is perhaps the antithesis of Gibney’s own unvarnished approach to her public profile.
Together with her husband Cal (Richard Roxburgh) – the charismatic leader of an evangelist megachurch – Abi constantly puts on a facade of having the perfect marriage, family and faith.
Gibney has met many women like Abi before (not necessarily in the religious realm), shrugging: “And
I feel for them, because I you can see the dilemma that’s constantly going on.”
“And I think a lot of women and have that [desire to present a certain way],” she says.
“We often feel that we have to juggle a million balls while keeping that happy face on and pretending to the world that you’re fully in control. But inside might be a massive swirl of emotions. We’re very good at doing that.
“We’re also very good at compartmentalising our lives in certain ways. And I think it can be exhausting for all of us.”
Although she is one of Australia’s most respected actors thanks to her roles in shows such as Halifax FP, Packed to the Rafters and Wanted, Gibney had to fight to play Abi.
“It wasn’t just handed to me,” she says.
“I really wanted it, so I had to fight for it. There were a lot of people that wanted it, because the writing was so complex and because this character is so wonderful.
“I think [these sorts of roles] are emerging more.
“We see it with the character Heather Mitchell plays in Love Me and Asher Keddie in Strife.”
Keen to embrace the growing momentum for women on-screen, Gibney has been looking to develop her own content. And that doesn’t always mean heavyhitting dramas.
Gibney believes there’s also scope for complexity in comedy “because while we want to see people struggling, we also want to see some happy, flawed women, too.”
And she’s eager to reteam with Roxburgh for something comedic in the future given the fabulous experience they had filming Prosper.
Roxburgh, of course, is a seasoned pro at playing complicated – but humorous – characters.
Roxburgh shone as Rake’s irreverent defence barrister Cleaver Greene for five seasons. And it remains the role that he is most recognised for, with fans often telling him they’d love a reboot.
“It was a beautiful time, and it was a beautiful character,” Roxburgh nods emphatically of Rake, which ran on the ABC from 2010 to 2018.
“I don’t think you could make that show now because I think it would be so politically at odds with where the world is now.
“In such short space of time – in the just the past eight to 10 years – the world has become a very different place.
“I’m sure Rake must have been cancelled along the way by somebody. I mean if it hasn’t, they really should hurry up and have a look because they’ve missed something.”
As Prosper’s Cal, Roxburgh once again digs his teeth into playing a man with self-destructive tendencies. On stage preaching, Cal has the swagger of a rockstar rather than a conservative clergyman. What his followers – and family – don’t know is that rockstar lifestyle continues behind the scenes as well. In fact, the entire
Quinn clan is keeping secrets for the sake of the family business. And therein lies the drama because, Roxburgh says, they’re trying to live up to impossible standards.
“It’s an absurdity, because you’re human,” he shrugs.
“You’ve got three versions of yourself: you’ve got the public version, you’ve got the private version, and you’ve got the secret version of yourself, at any one time. Three plates spinning in the air. And that’s complex.
“So, the expectation that these people have where they’re like: ‘I’m not really this [flawed person], I’m this majestic, amazing guy with his beautiful family. And I can preach for an hour, and it’s going to change your life and bring you to Christ.’ But really that’s a hologram because nothing can ever be like that.”
Rebecca Gibney: “We’re very good at compartmentalising our lives in certain ways. And I think it can be exhausting for all of us”