Abi breaks into new role

A broken leg helped actress Abi Tucker tap into her character in Matt Cameron's new play, Poor Boy.

ABI Tucker limps into the cavernous performance studio, smiling shyly as she brushes her hair out of her face. She's coy about how she broke her leg — "It was just a stupid accident" — but insists the injury is a blessing in disguise.

"Clare has a weighted heart," she says of her character in Poor Boy, a new Matt Cameron play starring Guy Pearce, with music by Tim Finn. "She's full of sadness and despair — and being physically restricted helped me tap into that."

There's something quite endearing about Tucker. Self-promotion is not her forte — she tends to change the topic when pressed on the reasons for her success. She has a natural beauty: an un-made, un-plasticised face and long, free-flowing hair. And despite a 17-year career as an actor and musician, she exudes not a whiff of neuroticism.

Ask her why she took the role, however, and she almost has to push her tongue back into her mouth. Great script, for a start. Great music. ("Who wouldn't want to sing Tim Finn's songs?") Great lead actor. ("Guy is hugely talented and a wonderful man.") But it was the deeper themes that appealed most.

"It's about a boy who announces on his seventh birthday that he's actually a grown man who died some years before," she explains. "It's a story of loss, redemption and discovery, but it also has a comical aspect. And it raises a lot of questions about the bigger picture and things like karma. I think it's quite thought-provoking."

It's been an interesting journey for the 36-year-old, whose renditions of Pat Benatar and Alannah Myles songs won her the New Faces television talent contest in 1992. So she's a rock chick? Well, sort of.

"I've always had eclectic tastes. I grew up listening to everything from Soundgarden and The Tea Party to Madonna and Jam & Spoon. I like pretty much every style — country, rock, blues — anything."

Tucker was only 14 when she began performing in a group called, um, Jatz and the Crackers. "Oh God," she says, burying her face in her hands. "Yes, that was our name. We used to sing Guns N' Roses songs at school discos."

Embarrassing band moniker aside, it proved good practice. After the New Faces win, of course, she seemed destined for a career in music. Instead, she snared a role on teen drama Heartbreak High, playing a young rap artist with a penchant for black eyeshadow.

A stint in London and a part in the Australian police series Wildside followed. But she really made her name in the hit youth drama, The Secret Life of Us. The series instantly struck a chord with the target audience of twentysomething generation Xers.

Suddenly, everyone was hauling old couches to the roofs of their apartment buildings, sharing spliffs and discussing their latest one-night stand.

It's easy to forget how controversial it was — even though it was made only several years ago. Drugs! Love triangles! Gay sex! Rarely had a television series depicted the realities of young urban life in such a frank, unpatronising manner.

Tucker's character, Miranda Lang, broke new ground by being one of the first in a mainstream Australian drama to have a lesbian relationship.

"It was such a beautiful evolution of a friendship into a relationship," she says. "I got some really nice letters about it — young couples sending me photos of themselves, that sort of thing.

"And there was a real buzz surrounding the show. You could feel it. It was exciting to be a part of it all."

But it didn't last: the quality of the scripts plummeted and nearly all the original characters left. By that stage, however, Tucker had returned her attention to music. In 2003, she released her first album, Dreamworld — more than 10 years after winning New Faces.

"There were so many mistakes on that album; so many things I look back on and go, 'Oh God'," she says. "I guess it's because it was recorded over such a long period of time. There was a lot of input from a lot of artists — and all of them were fantastic — but in trying to pull all those different sounds together, the whole thing ended up feeling a bit up and down."

Such errors are not a feature of her second album, One December Moon, released late last year.

"I was conscious of the songs I chose but I didn't get too bogged down in the programming. It sounds a lot more raw and organic. I think it's got a 'love' feel to it."

Having recently finished a two-year role as Grace Kingston in McLeod's Daughters, Tucker says she just wants to focus on Poor Boy. And if you happen to see her before she goes on stage, be careful about how you wish her good luck. "Please don't say 'Break a leg!'," she says.

Poor Boy is playing at the Melbourne Theatre Company. www.mtc.com.au

Abi Tucker - briefly
1973 Born January 22 in Sydney.
1987 Formed first band, Jatz and the Crackers, at the age of 14.
1992 Won New Faces television talent contest.
1994 Joined teen drama Heartbreak High, as student Jodie Cooper.
1999 Played rookie cop Kate Holbeck in ABC police drama Wildside.
2000 Lead role in the darkly comic film Angst.
2001 Played Miranda Lang in television drama The Secret Life of Us.
2003 Released album, Dreamworld.
2007 Joined McLeod's Daughters, playing Grace Kingston.
2008 Released second album, One December Moon.
2009 Playing a guilt-ridden, grieving widow in Matt Cameron play Poor Boy.