Why Kat Stewart keeps returning to theatre and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

"One of the greatest things about acting is that you have the opportunity to explore someone else's point of view," says Stewart. (Supplied: Eugene Hyland)

Kat Stewart made her name playing abrasive, often bolshie, characters in some of Australia's most beloved TV shows. That includes her memorable, expletive-laden turn as Roberta Williams in Underbelly (2008) and playing the fierce, indomitable Billie Proudman in Offspring (2010-17).

Yet in real life, she's warm, poised and unassuming.

It's a testament to her mastery of her form that she's able to transform so fully into these characters, including her latest.

In a return season at Melbourne's Comedy Theatre of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Stewart again plays Martha — the miserable, drunk, poison-tongued wife at the centre of Edward Albee's classic play of marital woe, first performed in 1962.

"There is something really liberating, cathartic, about playing someone who's very different to [me]," says Stewart.

"[In all these roles] you're not self-censoring, you're free, you've crossed a line and get to see where you go."

Martha, famously played by Elizabeth Taylor in the 1966 film version of the play, is one of those once-in-a-lifetime theatre roles — up there with Hedda Gabler, Blanche DuBois and Lady Macbeth.

"I'd be lying if I said it's not a daunting play [and role] to take on: It is daunting," Stewart says.

"Working on a masterpiece, you have to rise to meet the material and even though that can be a bit of a scramble, it makes you better … [and] not many people are lucky enough to get this role."

Shock and empathy

Stewart recalls reading the play and seeing the 1966 movie in her 20s, but hadn't thought much about it until a few years ago when she was talking to director Sarah Goodes about putting something on for the 21st anniversary of Melbourne's Red Stitch Actors' Theatre.

"Sarah and I joked, 'Let's do a play about female rage!' and it's about many more things than that, but it aligned," she says.

Reading the play in her late 40s "hit completely differently".

"I read it less about being a drunken night of brawling and more about a love story that has become twisted and about the heartbreak of middle age," says Stewart.

"It's crucial that it is not a play without hope. It does have hope."

Stewart believes Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is still relevant now.

"[Martha] is this woman with so much potential, with this education, mind, passion, ability, who is cut off from any potential opportunity to use it. Yes, because she's a woman in 1962. But it's not like we've solved all that yet. It's still so relevant.

"[And] it shocked people to see a woman behave in this way and it's still shocking."

Goodes says: "Kat makes such a good Martha because she's so muscular, she has an ability to bring something up from the earth.

"She always brings empathy to her work and, with Martha, you need to really be able to empathise with this woman."

'It's deliciously wicked'

While Stewart is keen to emphasise the love and hope in the play, it's known for the epic, brutal fights between George and Martha.

"People who don't fight, I worry about that. At least they're engaged with each other … [and] there's a lot of fun to be had, it's deliciously wicked," she says.

Which is lucky, because Stewart's husband, David Whiteley, plays George in this production.

Stewart insists that "it's acting!", but admits that being at each other's throats night after night could have an impact.

"It can bleed [into your personal life] and we don't want to be cocky about it, so we do have to be gentle with each other," she says.

Whiteley adds: "In real life, Kat's fury is something; she has that Irish spirit that's absolutely terrifying. And she's brought that to the party sometimes on stage."

He recalls one performance during the 2023 Red Stitch run of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

"I was maybe getting too many laughs or she felt like she wasn't quite hitting the marks. And the fury was a little bit more furious than usual. And she said something in such a way that really felt like a personal insult to me as an actor … [but] it just spurred me on."

Stewart concedes: "It could go to hell this time, but … it's been amazing to watch him [Whiteley] and see: 'Gee you're good, that's why I dug you in the first place.'"

The acting compulsion

When Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? opened last year, Stewart wrote on Instagram: "This play has been a brutal and beautiful reminder of why I became an actor."

She tells ABC Arts: "[Because] it's just getting back to the purity [of performance], which is wonderful writing, wonderful direction, wonderful actors."

Stewart grew up in Bairnsdale, regional Victoria, without much exposure to theatre. She saw her first ever play when she was about eight, during a year her family spent in Europe.

After Stewart and her family moved to Melbourne when she was a teen, she got her first taste of regular professional theatre, including shows at the Melbourne Theatre Company.

"I remember my head just exploding," says Stewart.

But despite developing an interest in theatre, she didn't pursue it out of high school.

"I wouldn't have had the courage. I was quite introverted. I don't think I'd recovered from the country-to-city transition," she says.

Instead, Stewart studied marketing and psychology at Monash University, joining the theatre society there. After graduating, she worked in book PR while going to night acting school at The National Theatre in St Kilda.

Two years into that three-year acting training, she was faced with a dilemma. She could either star in a production of Tony Kushner's Angels in America, or work at Adelaide Writers' Week.

"I couldn't be in two places at once," she says. She took the plunge and quit her day job.

"I tried to do other things. I tried to have a sensible career. I hoped that acting was a phase and I'd keep doing a regular job and I'd get it out of my system. I just couldn't. It's a compulsion … you do it because you have to and because you love it," she says.

Then she started auditioning.

"I was getting guest roles and bits and bobs. But it was only when I joined Red Stitch [in 2002] that I felt like I could call myself an actor," she says.

"The great thing now is it's possible to make your own stuff and put it out on Instagram or TikTok … [What's important is to be] getting together with like-minded people and putting stuff down. And for me, that was Red Stitch."

She was delighted to return to Red Stitch for the 2023 run of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, more than a decade after she'd last performed there.

"It felt like coming home," she says.

Plum roles

It was during her time with Red Stitch that Stewart landed her breakthrough role playing Roberta Williams, Melbourne gangster Carl Williams's fiery wife, in the first season of Underbelly.

After an injunction by the Victorian Supreme Court, the season was not aired in the state to prevent future criminal trials from being compromised. But that didn't stop people from illegally downloading the series, and it quickly turned into a national sensation.

"I didn't know if it was going to be four episodes [and not much else] … but it ended up being such a dream," Stewart recalls.

From 2010 to 2017, Stewart played Billie Proudman on all seven seasons of the beloved drama Offspring.

Alongside her string of memorable small screen roles, the AACTA- and Logie-winning actor has always kept a foot in theatre.

"There's an adrenal thrill that comes with doing theatre, but it's really hard work … But I also love the screen, because with something like Offspring … you get a role that you live with for a long time. You get to grow with the character."

Stewart is now 51, a year off the age of Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. She points out that both Taylor and Uta Hagen (who originated the role on Broadway) took on the role in their early 30s.

"[For a long time], the late 30s is when [roles] really seemed to fall off a cliff. It's definitely getting better, but we can always do more and doing a role like this kind of spoils you," she says.

"But I'm up for whatever is next. I want to see what this next era looks like, but it does feel like this [role] is like a marker."

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? runs until July 21 at Comedy Theatre, Melbourne.