Sara Wiseman as Dr Lorna James in the Auckland Theatre Company performance of Lucy Prebble's play The Effect Photo: Signy Bjorg
After making her name on television, Kiwi actress Sara Wiseman returns to the Auckland stage this month in The Effect, a medical drama from the writer of Succession.
Theatre performance – which she last did with the Auckland Theatre Company 20 years ago – is "a whole different beast" to acting for a camera, Wiseman says.
"Acting is an athletic experience when you're onstage because it takes a lot more energy ... The intensity of the focus, and just keeping the whole ship at sea. You don't get to stop and go back to the port and start over, so to speak," she tells Susie Ferguson.
The Effect runs from the 16th of April to the 11th of May at the ASB Waterfront Theatre. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes comes out on 10 May.
After "bursting out of drama school" Wiseman did a run of plays with Auckland Theatre Company and feels very grateful to be rejoining them a couple of decades later.
"It's such a joy to have the opportunity to rediscover something that you think you know [the script] and then every night you bring another point of concentration to it and new things happen."
Lucy Prebble's play The Effect – a revised version of the 2012 original – is about two antidepressant drug trial volunteers who fall for each other.
Wiseman plays Dr Lorna James who is overseeing an anti-depressant drug trial. Cynical about the pharmaceutical industry, Dr James is also a former lover of the drug's designer Toby.
Benjamin Henson, who directs the ATC production of The Effect, is someone Wiseman has wanted to work with for years.
"He's really playful and creative and I feel very fortunate to be able to do something that I think is so essential for culture."
As a child, Wiseman's performance outlet was dance. Then in the "Hercules and Xena era" when NZ-based female performers were in demand, she got into stunt work, then finally "plucked up the courage" to audition for drama school.
To help other aspiring Kiwi actors get a leg-up, , she co-founded the Auckland Theatre Company Actor's Program 13 years ago.
"I felt that there was an opportunity for a very intensive 100% practical course that allowed a broader age range but was smaller in terms of the size of the ensemble. I just wrangled several of my wonderful mates who are in the industry. We had a little meeting about how we could create a programme that would be the type of place that we would want to go and train in. So that's what we did."
The acting programme is now "going gangbusters", Wiseman says.
"We're treating them like professionals as opposed to just students and I think that's been really helpful for them.
"I'm so, so, so proud of our graduates doing so well both across stage and screen, not only in the country but offshore as well. Every time I see them pop up it makes my heart swell."
Wiseman says that as she's gotten older, her definition of "success" has changed.
"If you can hit the trifecta of a great script, a great production and a great vibe on set... like a great day on set where you walk away feeling rinsed. Everyone's done their best job. Everyone's had a good solid time even if the material was difficult. That's success now. And if I can continue to do that, then I will be a very happy girl."
In the last 20 years, Wiseman feels lucky to have worked "on both sides of the Tassie" in shows like Shortland Street, A Place to Call Home, Under the Vines and most recently the rural crime drama High Country.
In Australia, a place she "adores" working, Wiseman says there is really strong support from the government and audiences for local storytelling.
She is hopeful that the New Zealand screen industry can build on the success of "strong shows" like Outrageous Fortune and After the Party.
"I hope so much that that continues and can expand because we're nothing without our own stories, we have absolutely no culture without our own stories. That's what I want for us that feels like it's stronger [in Australia]].
In New Zealand, many people seem to regard storytelling as "not a real job" and there can be a "bitterness" towards those involved with telling stories onscreen, Wiseman says.
This ignores the value of storytelling as both a means of education and an important source of joy.
"The perfect example was in COVID when we were in lockdown, and the first thing everyone did was play records and read books and paint and dance ... That's us, that's what makes us us and it cannot be undervalued. It's so important."
Sara Wiseman and Owen Teague in the 2024 film Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes Photo: 20th Century Studios/20th Century Studios - © 2024 20th Century Studios
Wiseman has fellow NZ-born actress Rebecca Gibney to thank for her role in the upcoming film Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes – a fourth instalment in the franchise.
After being invited to audition, Wiseman felt self-conscious about pretending to be an ape and initially turned down the opportunity. When her friend Gibney rang and challenged her about why, she realised it was fear holding her back.
"I put [a self-taped audition] down in 20 minutes and just got over myself and sent it off, never expecting to hear anything. Then two weeks later, I was offered the role and I couldn't believe it.
"It was just an absolute highlight to play a character [who communicates] no subtext. It's just out there she's just beautiful."
The 2024 Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes film takes place 300 years later than the last film in the series – 2017's War for the Planet of the Apes.
Wiseman is touched that Andy Serkis, who starred in the first three Planet of the Apes films, has praised the new film.
"To get his stamp of approval, it brings tears to your eyes of us apes, so to speak."
