Deadloch’s Kate Box: I’ve never been a closeted actor but there was an instinct to hide

This story is part of the October 29 edition of Sunday Life.See all 15 stories.

Kate Box is having what any discerning pop culture enthusiast would deem “a moment”. Long-time fans of the 45-year-old actor might argue that 2023 is simply catching up with her genius. Box’s career has spanned nearly two decades, but her leading roles in Amazon Prime’s crime noir comedy Deadloch and a beautifully nuanced performance in SBS’s Erotic Stories (which has just hit TV screens) are catapulting Box to new heights.

The latter series showcases those not typically seen as sexual leads on Australian screens, with queer, gender-diverse, disabled, people of colour and middle-aged characters taking centre stage.

Box, who’s queer, says taking the role in the anthology was a no-brainer. “It’s just the kind of work that I want to be doing,” she says. “It’s the narratives that aren’t normally at the forefront of our storytelling, so I jumped at the chance of being involved in something that shouldn’t be ground-breaking but ultimately is.”

The series explores the complexities within sex and intimacy – and the themes in Box’s episode, The Deluge, are certainly far-ranging and include sexual drought, female ejaculation, the BRCA cancer gene, mastectomies and unrequited love within friendships.

“I knew it was going to be something that required a lot of vulnerability and courage,” she says. “It gave me a chance to reflect on eroticism in a way that I haven’t before, and it was an exciting thing to do in my 40s.”

Naturally, given the title of the series, there are also a lot of sex scenes, which she says were “beautiful to shoot”.

“We had a lot of rehearsals, and because the intimacy co-ordinator was also queer, it meant we had a shared language. There was so much respect on set and there’s a lot of fun with the sex in this story as well, so you had to laugh at some of the positions we were finding ourselves in.”

Box lives in Sydney with the three children she shares with fellow actor and writer, Jada Alberts. Originally from Adelaide, Box says she enjoyed an idyllic childhood filled with camping trips and exploring, something she’s “trying to slowly introduce to my own kids”, but lamenting she’s “not quite as good at it as my parents were”.

As a teen, she thought she’d follow in her social worker parents’ footsteps career-wise and completed a bachelor of arts, but ultimately auditioned for the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA). The rest, as they say, is history. Box’s impressive résumé includes a slew of theatre and film credits, but Australian television is her bread and butter. Stand-out roles include playing Nicole Vargas in Rake opposite Richard Roxburgh from 2010-18, and Lou Kelly in prison juggernaut Wentworth for 18 months, until the series ended in 2021.

“I recently did Wentworth Con [an event where fans can interact with the cast members] in Chicago and it was so much fun. Wentworth has such a thriving fan base, which keeps it alive. The fans are so committed, and grateful for the queer representation.”

“I knew it [Erotic Stories] was going to be something that required a lot of vulnerability and courage... It gave me a chance to reflect on eroticism.”

KATE BOX

Box had a lot of fun playing the villainous Kelly in Wentworth, with her performance eliciting some extreme responses from fans. “One woman wanted to know my measurements so she could make a jacket with my face on it to throw into her tiger pit for her tiger to rip up – she was die-hard.”

Box’s international fan base is also swelling due to her leading role as policewoman Dulcie Collins in Deadloch. “I had several people yell out ‘Hey, sexy!’ on the street when I was in Chicago. [Sexy is the nickname bestowed upon Box’s character, Dulcie, by her wife Cath.] I was taken aback; it made me realise this thing has got legs and it’s running all over the place.”

Critics have gone wild for Deadloch, which aims (and succeeds) in being a “Funny Broadchurch” – the series’ working title after the creators were inspired by the popular Broadchurch drama. Vanity Fair dubbed Deadloch “the feminist crime parody you didn’t know you needed”. Box shines as the conscientious Dulcie, alongside potty-mouthed Detective Eddie Redcliffe (Madeleine Sami) who’s been drafted in from Darwin to hunt down a serial killer in a small Tasmanian town which has been gentrified by lesbians.

Box wears Lee Mathews shirt, Witchery utility pants and her own jewellery.Credit: Jedd Cooney

Deadloch flips traditional whodunnit tropes and starts off slapstick before quickly becoming an addictive watch. It was created by Australian comedy duo Kate McLennan and Kate McCartney, known as the Kates.

“I could rave about the Kates until I fall flat on my face, and I would still keep talking,” Box says. “I would quite happily align myself with those two for the rest of my career.”

Meanwhile, Box says she’s affected by every character she plays. “You can’t take on a role and not be altered by it,” she says. “You get the opportunity to absorb the life of somebody and get to live alongside them and represent them the best you can.” This is especially true of playing Marg McCann in the 2018 ABC telefilm Riot, about Australia’s gay and lesbian rights movement in the 1970s. It became a seminal role for her.

“I’ve never been a closeted actor but there was definitely an instinct to hide myself in this industry in fear of jeopardising my career opportunities,” Box explains. “Before Riot, I remember hoping people didn’t ask me about my boyfriend or my personal life. And I carried a sense of fear.

“I remember early on in my career, I got a television gig and it was a straight role. As I was walking down the street in Melbourne holding my girlfriend’s hand, I saw somebody from the production and my instinct was to let go of my girlfriend’s hand – not because of anything this person had done but because of that sense of fear and uncertainty as to whether the person I am was accepted in this industry.

“Then Riot came along, and I got to play this incredibly powerful queer woman who was fighting for her community, her family and herself. The bravery the role gave me changed my chemistry because it allowed me to play something so close to who I am, yet it was also so celebrated.”

Her performance won her the 2018 AACTA for best lead actress in a television drama. “Awards nights carry their own f---ery but there was something incredibly emotional about standing up in front of my peers and being able to proudly say ‘Thank you’ for something that meant so much to me,” she says.

“It’s such a Pollyanna thing to say but if we don’t back our own uniqueness and we look for approval, then we rob ourselves of invention.”

KATE BOX

Nowadays, Box speaks passionately about queer representation on screen. “Being queer when you don’t have queer humans in stories can also be desperately lonely, particularly when you’re yet to find your community,” she says. “I really felt it growing up watching straight protagonists. Of course, I connected to characters through their adventures, but all of us love and hurt and desire and ache for pleasure and connection, and when we’re watching something that neglects so many of us, that invisibility hurts.

“When I was younger, that presented in me as confusion and shame, but now that I’m older, it’s occasional fury.”

Box wears suit by Witchery. Lilo by Oliver James. Credit: Jedd Cooney

She hopes Erotic Stories will reach a wider audience, and the people who think it’s not for them will be “curious enough to give it a crack”.

Mostly she hopes the people who need these stories will find them. “I think the fact that the pitch for this anthology was to explore sex and intimacy in characters not traditionally seen sexually, speaks volumes to the need for more.”

While it’s highly likely (and nicely set up) that Deadloch will get a second season, Box says she has “no idea” what’s next for her. “This career is hilarious,” she says. “I took six months off after I finished Deadloch to, you know, be mum, then I thought ‘I’m ready’, stood with my arms open – and I’m still waiting. It’s been incredibly quiet, which has been lovely because I’ve got to hang out with the baby, but there will be a time when my brain is going to explode from too much playdough and I’m going to be antsy to get back on set. I’d love to say I’ve got something secretive in the works, but I’m mainly making noodle necklaces.”

Box says this uncertainty would have once terrified her. “I’ve spent a lot of time in my life afraid about when the next job will come, and I don’t live with that fear now,” she says. “Now that I’m a bit older and have had a few great opportunities, I can be a little more patient and choose to do the jobs I align with.” Box adds that when you have kids, you have less time to ruminate on work decisions and that you need to make sure the timings of any job work for family.

Another perk of getting older, according to Box, is the joy that comes with letting go and trusting yourself. “It’s such a Pollyanna thing to say but if we don’t back our own uniqueness and we look for approval, then we rob ourselves of invention,” she says. “I’m finding so much more joy and playfulness in my work because I’m not sitting outside of myself wishing that I was more this or less that.

“This is particularly so after starting out with so much fear, and feeling like I wanted to hide myself. It’s a pretty wonderful, liberating feeling.”

Erotic Stories is now screening on SBS and SBS On Demand.

Fashion editor, Penny McCarthy; Hair, Darren Summors using Oribe; Make-up, Heidi Scarlett King using Nars at Mecca; Fashion assistant, Jaya Prisco.

Stockists Lee Mathews; Sandro; Witchery

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