Rachel Griffiths Returns to Australian Stage After 25 Years

Rachel Griffiths is trading her screen time for stage lights, and she's both terrified and thrilled about it.

The beloved Australian actor will return to her home country's theatre scene in 2027 for the first time in 25 years. She'll star in "Clarice" at Melbourne Theatre Company, bringing to life the story of artist Clarice Beckett, a visionary of Australian modernism who was nearly lost to history.

After her last stage role on Broadway in 2012, Griffiths swore off theatre entirely. Juggling an emotionally intense six-month run while raising three young children left her exhausted.

But now her kids are grown, and she's found a story that calls to her. Beckett's tale isn't just about art; it's about a woman who lived life on her own terms in 1930s Melbourne, when female artists struggled to be taken seriously.

"I haven't come across something I've wanted to bleed for until now," Griffiths says. She sees the play as more than entertainment in our screen-dominated world.

"There's a desperate desire to connect in a world where we are increasingly alone on our own screens," she explains. "This will be a chance to collectively share something very tender, ephemeral and human."

Why This Inspires

Beckett's story is a powerful reminder that recognition doesn't define a life well-lived. After her death in 1935 at age 48, nearly 2,000 of her paintings sat neglected in an open-sided farm shed near Benalla until curator Rosalind Hollinrake discovered them in 1970.

Only 359 works were salvageable, but they revealed an extraordinary talent. Recent retrospectives in Geelong and Adelaide have finally given Beckett the spotlight she never sought.

Griffiths has long admired Beckett's work. She even hosted an ABC TV episode in 2022 trying to find the exact location where the artist painted Melbourne's Luna Park during the Spanish flu pandemic. During COVID lockdowns, Griffiths walked past that painting daily, finding new meaning in its depiction of a closed amusement park.

"Clarice died unknown but she got to sit and observe nature every day she practised her craft," Griffiths reflects. "Her life was lived on her terms."

The actor actually brought the project to Melbourne Theatre Company herself. Writer-director Trudy Hellier originally pitched it as a movie, but Griffiths sensed the story could be "sublime" for theatre audiences in a way that's "more abstract and ephemeral than a film."

It's also a chance to celebrate the women who hunt through history to ensure great women aren't forgotten, like Hollinrake's dedication to preserving Beckett's legacy.

Theatre might be exhausting, but some stories are worth the effort.