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[title]Ruby Rose is reacclimatising. The Australian actor has swapped the arid plains of Los Angeles for a bleak midwinter in Melbourne, and while she felt tearful leaving La La Land, she is elated to be back in her hometown for what will be a career-first performance. Until then, she is champing at the bit to guzzle down some of the city's holy grail: coffee.
"There's nowhere else in the world like Melbourne when it comes to food, art, entertainment and culture," she states patriotically. "As soon as I wake up in my hotel, I think: where can I go? What can I do? What can I see? What coffee can I get?"
We meet a jet-lagged Rose in one of the upstairs rooms of Her Majesty's Theatre, where she and her co-cast – Gemma Ward, Remy Hii and Daniel MacPherson – will be spending their waking hours rehearsing for the Australian premiere of 2:22 – A Ghost Story. Rose is wearing a statement silver trenchcoat with crucifix earrings to match, and her "visual journal" – aka her impressive tattoo collection – is only partly invisible. With more than 100 tattoos etched on her body, is there one she regrets?
"Oh, so many, like this one's probably not my favourite," she says, laughing as she pulls up her jacket sleeve to reveal one of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. "I forgot I'd be a 37-year-old woman who would have to explain that to people one day."
I think if I could give anyone advice – not that you should take mine – it would be to not start getting tattoos at 16.
2:22 – A Ghost Story is set to be Rose's first-ever stage debut, and while she is hilariously frank about having oodles of nerves, she still manages to give off a cool air of nonchalance.
"Everyone kept saying it was so brave of me to agree to do a stage production, and I was like, 'Wait, what? Why do I not feel nervous?'" she says. "And then I started getting nervous that I wasn't nervous."
Rose is no stranger to the bright lights of showbiz, and her career so far has seen her juggle being an actor, DJ, model and TV presenter. As well as being an outspoken advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community (Rose uses she/they pronouns), she is vocal in her support of animal welfare and campaigns for anti-bullying. Another matter close to her heart is youth mental health, and she has often wielded her struggles with anxiety and depression to corral people to open up about their own.
"My biggest challenge will always be my anxiety," she admits, before praising the wonders of breathwork and meditation in assuaging her nerves. "And while the stage itself isn't scary to me (I've DJ'd to thousands and thousands of people before), when I think about the intimacy of seeing the theatre audience, that feels like a different thing altogether."
Born in Melbourne in 1986 to a 20-year-old single mother, Rose – born Ruby Rose Langenheim – began working as a TV presenter for MTV Australia before landing several high-profile modelling gigs, including one as the face of Maybelline New York. Rose then released her short film about gender roles, Break Free, which not only ignited conversations about gender fluidity but also caught the casting director's attention for Orange is the New Black (OITNB).
After taking on the role of Stella Carlin in season three of OITNB, the public fell head over heels for Rose, and she was launched into the star-spangled stratosphere. Since then, she has appeared in blockbuster films like The Meg, John Wick: Chapter 2 and Pitch Perfect 3, and was cast as the first openly gay superhero in the CW series Batwoman.
Now she is swapping stunts for the supernatural with 2:22 – A Ghost Story, a thriller of a play written by the award-winning Danny Robins. After premiering on the West End in 2021, it received a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Best New Play the following year and has had stints in LA, New York and London. Up next? Our dearest Melbourne.
"I'd always wanted to do a play, and when I asked Anna [Camp] about her experience of the LA run, she said she would have done it 100 times over and that I'd be crazy not to do it," recalls Rose.
"I got the script and fell in love with the story – and Lauren as a complex character."
2:22 – A Ghost Story takes place at a dinner party where the guests relive their pasts and quarrel about the existence of ghosts as they stay up until 2:22am to put it to the test. In case you're wondering where Rose sits in the belief versus non-belief camp, she's firmly in the former.
"I've had supernatural encounters before when I shot OITNB and Batwoman," she reveals. "Both series were sometimes set in former mental institutions, and we would have lights come on, hear voices, there'd be cold patches – all sorts."
Is there anyone she would summon from the dead should she find herself possessing an Ouija board?
"My Aunt Mary," Rose reveals with a moment of hesitation. "I don't drink – as I'm very boring, old and happy now – but I would go out on a rager with her."
A few tears fog up Rose's eyes as she regales more stories about her beloved Aunt. "Once she took me to MONA in Hobart when she was 88 years old and was like, 'You're going to love it; here's the vagina wall! Should we find ours?'"
Rose's freakiest experience to date involved a crystal given to her by "not a very good person" and a subsequent night of sleep paralysis.
"I saw some sort of ghost demon and kept thinking about that middle zone of not being dead or alive and unable to move," she squirms in a spook (as do I).
I can imagine being stuck in that process, which is why I find ghosts sadder rather than scary.
When unravelling the themes of the production, she says to expect an entertaining carousel of funny, interesting and thought-provoking concepts.
"Everyone should come with an open mind when they walk through the theatre to see 2:22 – A Ghost Story," advises Rose. "And expect the unexpected."
The cutthroat world that is Hollywood may add thorns to one's side, but Rose's affability continues to bloom. Whether she is talking about anxiety or waxing lyrical about her co-stars, she does so with a comical candour that makes time elapse. If only we had until 2:22 to keep yabbering on and on.
'2:22 – A Ghost Story' is showing at Her Majesty's Theatre from July 25 until August 20. You can book tickets here.