Nearly a year ago, actor Rose Maher was preparing to leap all over the lawns of Wollongong Botanic Gardens, spouting lines written 430 years ago. This weekend, she appears at IPAC, interpreting a show stemming very much from her own experience a fair bit more recently.

Rose has created The Cardinal Rules, a deeply personal show looking back at how she found growing up in the Catholic faith – and she yearns for Catholics to come along and bear witness.

I interviewed Rose as she prepared to take the stage for the pay-what-you-feel performance appearing from October 31 to November 2.

How was your experience of the Bachelor of Creative Arts (Performance) at the University of Wollongong? 

It was excellent. The artistic growth, the friends and networks I made there have been instrumental to my career. We really need these courses for the next generation of artists. I had such a broad range of experiences and it really shaped me. We need to fight to keep these courses going because they’re closing down everywhere. It’s also important that it’s in Wollongong. I know I really benefited from not being in a big city. The proximity of the beach and the closeness of the community was really beneficial for me.

Take us back to Canberra, 1990s – were you devoted to all the church teachings? What were some of the experiences that shaped you and/or inspired 'The Cardinal Rules'? 

I guess I thought I was very devoted. I probably was. One of the important parts of this show is figuring out which parts I was actually devoted to. The rituals and songs and the whole event of church is really attractive. I wanted to understand the extent to which I was devoted to the teachings of the church and to what extent was I devoted to the event and the community. All of that has very much inspired the show, it’s the whole ensemble of things and all of these were really the foundation of my childhood in the 90s.

I’ve just read Monica Dux's book 'Lapsed', in which she tells of perhaps a similar experience. How does speaking with other Catholics/lapsed Catholics resonate with you? Do you find it cathartic, like something needs to be healed? 

That book resonated hugely with me; I would say it was really cathartic. I’ve found speaking with my siblings and other Catholics essential. Alison Bennet, who is in the show, also comes from a big Catholic brood. She immediately understood what I was talking about and that’s really why we came to collaborate. It’s a shared experience and understanding. We just immediately started singing hymns together and I think anyone raised Catholic will understand that.

It’s interesting, though, when we speak to non-Catholics, we’ll describe it as the feeling you get when you realise your parents are not actually the smartest people in the room. People often say ‘oh yeah, right’. So if this isn’t what I thought it was, what else is not? And for we Catholics, there’s been a lot of things that are not as we thought. So that shared grief, the loss of innocence … all those things are best shared with others, I think.

Wollongong theatre-goers will remember you from last year's 'Midsummer Night's Dream'. What do you remember most from playing Helena?

That show was just so much fun. And every audience just had a great vibe. It was really the most wonderful experience to be a part of. It was by the locals and for the locals and it was so beautiful to perform in the gardens with the evening lights and the animals.

I also just love the character. Helena is a young lover type but she is so bold. Leland Kean, the director, made such a big, physical show that really leaned into her boldness so it was easy to find a big range of emotions in her. She didn’t shrink away from anything. I also loved working with Kay Proudlove, who was the composer and who also performed live with us. And I got to work with the brilliant Ali Gordon, of course, who played Titania … and who is directing The Cardinal Rules.

Your LinkedIn profile lists several ongoing gigs – the clowning etc. Are you ever too busy. Does it all get to be a bit of a juggle? 

Yes, all the time. The freelance juggle is very real and very demanding. The cost-of-living crisis has really impacted not only me but all the artists I know and work with. But I think the societal shift towards self-care and knowing your boundaries is really helping to manage that. It’s not perfect but it’s much easier to say no to things just because you need a rest than it has been in the past.

I see you have written to Catholic parishes in the Illawarra to invite churchgoers – what do you hope or think they will come away from the show thinking? 

I would love to have conversations with current Catholics and with the clergy about the show. We would dearly love for Catholic communities to engage with us. I would like for them to leave wondering the same things that I wondered which led to the show getting made: Have you really made a decision to be in the faith of your own accord? How important is it that you actually decide? I’d love for them to go away with curiosity about how I came to the conclusion I came to.

In the publicity shot for the show, you have an astoundingly tall hat but the part that really stands out are the outrageous flares! Catholic clergy have some pretty flamboyant costumes – did they inspire you with that?

Thank you! My sister made those flares and they are so beautiful. They’re quite in fashion – wide-leg pants, I think we call them. She’s very clever. But yes, 100% we’ve been very inspired by the spectacle of the Catholic mass. I really do think that my Catholic upbringing was the beginning of my theatre training. It makes historical sense as so much Western theatre has its roots in religious traditions.

The Catholics have incredibly beautiful and striking vestments, rituals and music – it’s intoxicating. It creates the sense of mystery and of sacredness. The show doesn’t replay the church rituals but we have certainly explored them to find the story and the real core of what we wanted to say.

The Cardinal Rules is the third and final MerrigongX show of 2024. Performances are on Thu 31 Oct, 7:30pm; Fri 1 Nov, 7:30pm; Sat 2 Nov, 7:30pm at the Bruce Gordon Theatre at Illawarra Performing Arts Centre. Tickets are 'pay as you feel' – book your seat then pay what you feel the performance is worth afterwards. Recommended for ages 16+. Bookings via the Merrigong website.