Interview
Antonia Prebble
by Guy Somerset
Antonia Prebble, 24, was a presenter on children’s TV show __What Now?__ and had a leading role in __The Tribe__ before joining __Outrageous Fortune__ as smart, snarky and increasingly devious daughter Loretta West, a part for which she won the Best Supporting Actress category at last year’s Qantas Film and Television Awards.
Prebble is about to star as the “she” in Auckland Theatre Company’s production of the 18th-century Oliver Goldsmith comedy __She Stoops to Conquer.__
When was the last time you were on stage? I did a play at the end of last year called The Reindeer Monologues. It was a production for the Basement in Auckland to fundraise for an air-con-ditioning unit. It was a rotating cast of 40 actors and I did four shows. I was only on stage for, like, 10 minutes a night. Prior to that, I did another little play the previous year in the Herald Theatre foyer.
So, your venues are gradually growing. That’s right. Actually, in a real theatre on a real stage. I haven’t been in a grand-scale production like this since I was 12, before I started doing TV, so it’s quite a big deal for me.
You come from a high-achieving family – academic parents, Richard and Mark Prebble as uncles – was there always an expectation that you would drive yourself? It was never overtly put upon me by my parents or anything like that. I guess it was always just expected that we would work hard at school, but in terms of achievements outside school, all the motivation came from myself, just because I was so keen on being an actress. It’s literally the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do. When I got an agent when I was 11, I was the one who rang up the agency and said, “Can I be on your books?” That neatly sums up my approach.
She Stoops to Conquer has been reset in 1959, with some amazing costumes, I’d imagine. It’s pretty fabulous. I’m a bit of a fan of the 50s as an era. My character’s first outfit is structured on an Audrey Hepburn feel, from Breakfast at Tiffany’s: a little black dress and pearls and a little cardigan and winkle-pickers. So it’s pretty lovely.
It must be nice after all those black T-shirts as Loretta. I know, that’s right! It’s a big change.
Do you find people think you’re going to be a bit of a Westie? You’d think so, and I would think so, but surprisingly no. Particularly last year, after series four aired, I was actually quite worried, because Loretta got into some pretty dark places and did some pretty nasty things. After the episode where the pet shop accidentally burnt down, I was like, “Oh, my gosh, I’m going to be the most hated actress in New Zealand. I just burnt puppies. How can you ever recover from that?” But I didn’t get one negative comment. People seem to be able to distinguish between the actors and the characters on Outrageous far better than they do, say, between the actors and the characters on Shortland Street.
Actually, I was thinking more in terms of them seeing you as a Westie than an actual West. Despite what you get up to, many people identify with that show. We have a website where people can write comments on a forum and I do get quite a few saying, “Oh, wow, Antonia, Loretta is just like me” or “My mum says I’m just like Loretta” or “Loretta’s just like my best friend”. And I go, “Oh, my gosh, you poor thing.”
The poster for She Stoops to Conquer is very lusty. We did that quite a few weeks before rehearsals commenced, so I didn’t know anyone and I turned up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. The photographer showed me some images they were using as inspiration and they were Swedish barmaids with huge boobs and lots of skin showing, and I was like, “Oh, great, erm, cool.” But then they showed me what I’d be wearing, that red dress [in the poster], and obviously that’s quite far removed from a Swedish barmaid. And those things are always very formally composed. So it was less about the décolletage and more about getting my elbow at the right angle so the beer glass didn’t look weird.
