Q&A: Geraldine Turner, actor & singer, 72

Geraldine Turner on her shocking new memoir, landing a plum role in The Mousetrap — and why applause is “like a drug”.

No regrets: Geraldine Turner. Picture: Ken Leanfore

From musicals such as Cabaret to plays, film, TV, albums of Stephen Sondheim songs… you’ve done it all. Where does your heart lie? The theatre, always. What’s wonderful about it is that each night is never going to happen again. You create a show with a particular audience. Some are like one animal – they all laugh together – and then some nights there are little pockets of laughter; it’s not one animal, it’s several. It’s quite fascinating and it keeps you on your toes.

Your new memoir Turner’s Turn has been described as “brutally honest”, “disarming”, even “shocking”. Any regrets? No. I decided I didn’t want to write a book that was: “I did this. And then I did this...” That’s boring. So I wrote it during Covid lockdowns and put it out there – and then I started thinking, “Oh, my God, people are going to read this!” I’ve been very honest about my own flaws. But I’ve had so many wonderful letters from people saying they feel they know me – and that’s what I set out to achieve.

You were raised in Brisbane in a dysfunctional family fraught with violence and alcohol abuse. Was the stage your salvation? For a lot of people in our industry, when you look at their background they’re escaping something or trying to find a tribe, a family. Not everyone, of course. But a lot of performers are a bit broken somehow, and searching for something. Including that applause every night – it’s like a drug.

How did you snare the role of “seriously unpleasant retired magistrate Mrs Boyle” in the Agatha Christie play The Mousetrap? I ran into Robyn Nevin at the dog park. She’s an old friend who I’ve worked with a lot over the years. She was directing the play and I said, “I might be interested in being in that”. A couple of months later she offered me the role.

The murder mystery is the longest-running West End show in history, with more than 28,500 performances since 1952. What’s the magic? People love mysteries, and Agatha Christie never goes out of fashion. I’d never seen The Mousetrap, and when I read the script I didn’t guess the end. I’m usually good at that. So one of the things going for it is that it’s almost impossible to guess what’s going to happen.

Singing, dancing, acting... you’re a triple threat of the highest order. So how does it feel to just go out there and act? I love it. It’s strange, because I always feel like a “legitimate” actor when I’m not singing. Which is ridiculous. But also, it’s fun to do a play now and then. When you’re doing a musical you have to go straight home, you can’t have a drink with friends, your whole day is resting your voice for a show at night. When you’re doing a play, it’s not such a tragic life.

What’s the role that got away? Only twice in my life have I thought, “I can’t bear it that I didn’t get this part”. They were in the first Australian production of Evita, and Sunset Boulevard.

How about Mama Rose from Gypsy – a character with which you’re quite familiar? Absolutely – she’s my mother. I know that woman very well. And I could sing the shit out of it. But it just wasn’t to be. I was cast in six productions, and they were all cancelled. You’ve just got to be philosophical about it.

A long and stellar career and a marriage of almost three decades: what’s the secret of your staying power? In showbusiness, you just have to keep changing, reinventing yourself. If you just do one thing, you grow too old for it and you’re cactus. In marriage [to conductor Brian Castles-Onion], God, I don’t know. We are apart quite a lot with work, though we talk twice a day. That can be interesting. Those people who say, “We’ve been married for 40 years, we’ve never spent a night apart” – I think, oh my god, I’d hate that!

The Mousetrap opens at the Theatre Royal Sydney on Oct 8, QPAC Brisbane from Nov 3, Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide from Dec 31, and the Comedy Theatre, Melbourne from Feb 17, 2023. themousetrap.com.au