“The good thing about getting older is that you stop giving a stuff what other people think about you,” Marina Prior says as we set off on a cold winter’s walk through parkland in the outer-Melbourne suburb of Eltham. “While I care deeply about the work, I don’t care if you don’t like it.”
Despite decades in the public eye – first as the star of blockbuster musicals of the 80s and 90s including Les Misérables and Phantom of the Opera and then as an annual yuletide favourite on Carols by Candlelight – Prior remains a curiously contradictory figure, both open book and shut case. “I’m not really a dramatic person,” she says as she tightens her navy puffer jacket against the biting wind. “I don’t get stressed or suffer from anxiety.”
At 61, Prior has reason to be relaxed. She recently wrapped up the Australian leg of the Les Misérables Arena Spectacular tour, playing one of the show’s comic villains opposite Little Britain’s Matt Lucas. She’s currently starring in the Tony award-winning musical Kimberly Akimbo, playing the show’s eponymous hero. And there is almost zero chance we won’t be seeing her round out our Christmas Eves on this year’s Carols. “Wild horses wouldn’t drag me away.”
The evolution from colourless ingenue to rich character actor can be tracked through the roles Prior has played in Les Mis alone – originally cast as young lover Cosette, she transitioned to the tragic part of Fantine and now plays the grotesque comic foil of Madame Thénardier. It’s tempting to see this as a natural progression, but Prior maintains that “I had to fight for it.”
“It’s very hard to avoid getting pigeonholed in this country,” she says, her laughter hiding the slightest hint of exasperation. “People see you as something, and it’s really difficult to get them to change their mind about you.” She stops to consider which path we should take, up towards the noisy main road or under a nearby footbridge.
“I’d never dismiss those ingenue roles,” Prior says once we’re walking again, away from traffic and towards an oval full of galahs. “People think they’re shallow, but there’s a lot of skill involved in playing those parts well. The problem is people think that’s who you are in real life. It’s funny. People see me on Carols and think that’s me, but I want to explain that that’s also a persona. I’m acting!”
Shifting public perceptions might be an ongoing battle, but there is no doubt Prior has the runs on the board. She has proven comic credentials – she was hilarious in Melbourne Theatre Company’s production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and a delightfully droll Dolly Levi in the Production Company’s Hello, Dolly! – and is attracted to roles that stretch her as an actor and singer.
“I credit [former MTC artistic director] Roger Hodgman for taking a chance on me,” Prior explains. “He was directing a production of Guys and Dolls, and approached me for the role of Sarah Brown, the ingenue part.” Prior had other ideas, and insisted on auditioning for the comic role of Miss Adelaide. She was sensational and has since played the part twice.
Born in Port Moresby to parents who loved the arts (they joined the local Gilbert & Sullivan Society there, and “were thrilled” when their daughter made her professional debut as Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance), Prior graduated from Korowa girls’ school without quite knowing what career she’d pursue.
“I was going to do law, but my dad talked me out of it.” Prior says. “He asked me what I loved, and I said music and acting. He said, ‘Well do that.’ I’m very grateful to him for not being sensible. He was living his unfulfilled dreams through me, quite honestly.”
Thoughts of teenage life are at the forefront of Prior’s mind at the moment, a natural byproduct of her work on Kimberly Akimbo. She plays a 16-year old girl who ages four times faster than everyone else around her, mature beyond her years but desperate to seize the little time she has left.
“It’s the most wonderful show,” Prior enthuses. “It has these confronting themes, but then it’s so uplifting.” While mortality itself haunts the edges of the musical, it also deals with appearances, with the disconnect between how we feel and how we look. It’s the teenage experience writ large.
“There’s a lot of hilarity to be mined in teenage angst and insecurity,” Prior says. “And I’m not really any different on the inside than I was at 16. Unlike Kimberley, I have life experience. I’ve buried people, I’ve given birth to people. I’ve been married, I’ve been divorced and remarried. But fundamentally, I’m the same person.”
Prior moved out to Eltham with her husband, fellow actor Grant Piro, “because I wanted a different lifestyle. I have kangaroos at my back fence. There’s something about the inner city that’s so hip and aspirational, and I just didn’t want to play that game. We’ve lived in lots of places, and they were fine for a time, but we’ve found our place now.”
Prior and Piro manage to carve out time for each other despite gruelling and often conflicting schedules. “For instance, Grant’s about to move into the theatre I’ve just bumped out of [Her Majesty’s in Adelaide]. We’ve only got a few days crossover.” Piro walks ahead of us with their dog India, a silent sentinel guiding our way, stopping every now and again to point out the local birdlife.
If there’s a downside to the actor’s life, with its peripatetic demands and insecure working schedule, Prior doesn’t share it. As we round a final turn and the weather threatens to blacken, she seems both poised and content, completely in control. “When I was younger, I used to tie myself in knots, worrying what people thought of me. I don’t do that any more. I love my age. I’m vibrant, I’m doing more exciting things than I’ve ever done.”
• Kimberly Akimbo is playing at the Arts Centre Melbourne until 30 August.
