BELFAST actor Rachel Tucker is starring in Thelma & Louise in London's West End.
The show opened this month and the Irish star took time out to talk to the Irish Post this week...
You star in a new stage production based on the classic film Thelma & Louise. How is it going?
It is just extraordinary to me, making something new like this, how long it takes, how every little detail needs to go through six, seven or eight incarnations before you realise that’s what it is.
And it just takes so long, getting this fantastic dialogue and score. Not only being truthful and honest with it but, you know, putting it on its feet, making it come alive, making it be very realistic and honouring what the original story was.
It’s a really exciting process. I love working on new musicals.
Were you a fan of the original film?
Believe it or not, I never saw the film until I was asked to take part in one of the workshops developing the book and the actual show.
So that was about two years ago, when I got involved, and I thought I had better sit down and watch the movie.
I had always known what the end was — the famous, iconic clip of them at the edge of the Grand Canyon.
What’s it like working with Amy Lennox?
Working with Amy has been fantastic. She’s a Celt like myself. We fire off each other so brilliantly.
She is such an incredible actress. She’s got such great stage presence. Because we get on so well off-stage, we really just come alive on stage and we really make each other laugh.
She is very like her character in some ways. Not all ways. She can be so similar to Thelma and we’ll laugh about that.
Rachel Tucker (right) and Amy Lennox in Thelma & Louise (Picture TeaFilms)
I last met you at the wrap party of ‘I’d Do Anything’ at BBC Television Centre. What was it like being involved in that programme?
I absolutely loved being on ‘I’d Do Anything’. It was a real turning point in my career. I mean, it was a turning point for me, whether I should go on to the show and showcase myself like this in front of the public.
I remember my mum saying: ‘Oh, I don’t think you should do it. It’s a bit of a risk, you know.’ But it was a risk and a gamble I was willing to take at that time in my life.
The singer Lee Mead had done it a few years before and I had done a production with Lee. And I thought how well it did for him. And even if you don’t win it, there is great exposure, so I was glad I did it.
Do you keep in touch with any of the girls?
I loved meeting the girls. I’m still in touch with them.
Sam, I am about to do a concert with this weekend. I’m going to have a coffee with Niamh. I bumped into Jessie Buckley there in Brixton a couple of weeks ago. Ashley Russell, I’ve just been to see in Trainspotting the musical.
What have been the highlights of your career since then?
I think the highlight for me was landing the role that I had wanted for years, which was Elphaba in Wicked. I saw it on Broadway and just sobbed. I promised myself, my mum and my sister that one day I was going to play that role. And almost ten years later, I was on Broadway, on the Gershwin stage, playing Elphaba. Sadly, my mum didn’t get to see that.
Another highlight would have been performing on Broadway with Sting in The Last Ship, which is doing two weeks in London in September, which I can’t wait to see.
I think creating an original role, like in The Last Ship and Thelma and Louise, happens very rarely. So, whenever those roles do come along and they come my way and I get the opportunity to embody these characters, it’s just a gift and I am so grateful.
I am honoured to be standing on the shoulders of Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis, who starred in the Thelma and Louise film. They are just so iconic and so brilliant.
Growing up in Belfast, what was your first introduction to theatre?
I am very fortunate to have had a great introduction to theatre. My whole family were into singing and musical theatre.
We used to always watch a movie musical over the weekend and would fight over which one we were watching. Between my sister and my two brothers, my sister got me into theatre.
She was playing Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz. Those ruby-red slippers just got me hooked. I was like: ‘I want a pair of those. I want to do that.’ I just followed my nose. The Golden Thread Theatre up in Ardoyne was one of my first introductions to that.
I played Bugsy in Bugsy Malone because I was better than the boys. They put me in a suit and greased my hair back, and I thought: ‘I think I’ve got something here, you know.’
I followed my nose to the Lyric Theatre and the Arts Youth Theatre with Peter Quigley, who was a great talent. He really just let us be ourselves, be original and dig deep.
Northern Irish kids who have something to say, who maybe have tricky backgrounds that they can use on stage. It was so cathartic for a lot of us, especially growing up at the end of the Troubles, knowing how rough and how tough life can be, actually.
The arts were such a great outlet. I am so proud of what the pioneers in Belfast taught us, like Michael Poynor. The Ulster Theatre Company was a massive influence on me and we toured the UK and Ireland. It was an incredible experience.
Tell me about your dad, Tommy Tucker — he was quite a character by all accounts?
Ah, ‘Wee Tommy Tucker sings for his supper.’ That was his saying, and he actually did. He started out with his dad singing around the clubs and on the streets. The cap would have gone in front and they would have done their skit.
That was so passed on to me and my brother John. He just influenced us from such an early age with music and instruments and getting up and singing for each other at family parties.
It was just a given that we all got up to sing. You did your party piece, standing in front of an audience at nine or ten.
Going around the cabaret circuit with my dad was a normal thing for me to do. I got a set list together, knowing what songs you were singing. Dad and I would have rehearsed and got the right key for me to sing songs with the local bands in the smoky pubs of Belfast.
That is how I learned how to work with an audience, tell stories, look into people’s eyes and get them to believe me. Dad very much influenced the performer in me. I totally credit him for that.
When I do my one-woman shows, they are very much inspired by my dad: he’s the man. He is an incredible talent. He doesn’t sing so much now. I am so proud to call him my da.
Rachel Tucker stars as Louise in the show (Pic: Helen Murray)When did you realise that your powerful voice would lead you to a life on stage?
I was always singing, all throughout my life. It was always there. It was always encouraged. It was almost a given. I studied for a BTEC in Belfast, a performing arts course. And some friends and I went down to auditions in Dublin for the musical Rent, which was coming over from the West End.
I remember going down and singing ‘Take Me or Leave Me’. I couldn’t seem to sing it properly. I remember going outside into the street, somewhere I didn’t feel confined, and letting my voice rip. And the release I felt. I remember thinking: ‘I can do this.’
I did it in the room and got the job. And I got to do that professionally for four months at the Olympia when I was 18.
What is your favourite theatre in Belfast?
Well, I’ve just had a bucket-list moment. The Grand Opera House in Belfast was at the top of my list for many years, from sitting in the front row watching pantomime every Christmas with my family. I just thought: ‘I have to play at the Opera House.’
It was incredible for me. I was brought up in the Lyric. I’ve had lots of experience there, before it got knocked down and rebuilt. I was the last person to say the lines on stage at the old Lyric — ‘Toto, there’s no place like home’ — when I was playing Dorothy Gale.
That was iconic, and that was such a great memory. I don’t think I can pick between the Lyric and the Opera House. I hold them on such high pedestals.
Do you think the arts are in a good place in Northern Ireland at the moment?
I am out of the loop a bit with what is going on in Northern Ireland, but anything I have seen over the last few years when I have been home has been of an excellent standard.
I just wish there was more money to put into the arts. I wish the government would find more money to keep the arts afloat, subsidise theatres and help them make such important and incredible work. And it’s how we get the next generation involved and interested and creating and writing and producing.
You are in a tough industry. How do you stay resilient?
I stay resilient by focusing on what my mum says: ‘What’s for you won’t go by you.’ If things don’t work out, there is a really good reason for it: you have to let it go.
My sister has another great saying: ‘Hand it over, just hand it over. Some things you can’t control.’ You stay resilient by saying: ‘Well, if things don’t go my way, it is for a very good reason and something better will come along.’ You can’t become bitter or be bitter about things that don’t go your way. Otherwise, it will eat you up and consume you, and you can’t be creative if you’ve got that feeling.
Also, having a great husband whom I can talk all these things out with when I get home. A great sounding board, great support. He keeps me grounded, tells me when I am becoming too big for my boots. So that is definitely helpful and key to staying resilient.
What advice would you give to any aspiring performer reading this?
Just remember there is only one you. Stay true to yourself. It’s great that I, coming from Northern Ireland, can inspire young musical theatre wannabes. I am thrilled that is the case. Always bring the best you. Don’t try to be somebody you aspire to be.
Always stay honest and be generous to those around you. Be nice to the people on the way up. Be humble, be gracious and be grateful.
Thelma & Louise runs at the Young Vic untl October 24What is your most treasured memory of watching a show in the theatre growing up?
I told this at my one-woman show. I sat in the front row at the Opera House with my family. John Linehan and my dad had conspired. They knew each other from the cabaret circuit, and they got me up to sing.
Of course, my dad was asking: ‘If they get you up, what are you going to sing?’ The orchestra played ‘You Are My Sunshine’. I took the mic and took control: ‘Hi, my name is Rachel Kelly and I am singing “You Are My Sunshine” in the key of C.’ And, of course, the audience fell about laughing because it sounded like I had been here 50 years. This seven-year-old up on stage, knowing the key she was singing in, and I said: ‘Hit it!’ And I danced and sang across the stage and, of course, the audience stood on their feet and roared. That was a real moment for me growing up.
Do you think your son will follow in your footsteps?
He is a great musician. He is a drummer. He played at my gig at the Opera House. He is doing so brilliantly. He is also a great natural actor. He’s had a couple of screen tests, so he is dipping his toes into acting.
He goes to a theatre group on a Saturday and loves the acting side of it, so maybe a bit of that. I would love him to do it, as it has given me such great opportunities and it has given me such a wonderful life. It’s taken me all over the world.
But I just know how tough it is. We don’t all have careers like mine, but I want him to follow his heart and, if he wants it, he should do it.
Finally, what would be your dream role?
Before Thelma and Louise, I would say it was Elphaba. That was a dream role of mine for many years, and I got to do it.
It was a total and utter dream come true. Iconic, strong roles like Louise are dream roles. I am in the middle of a dream role and it’s a great place to be. I am a very lucky girl. And long may it last.
Thelma & Louise at the Young Vic continues until October 24, click here for tickets.
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