Marta Dusseldorp Has Something To Say
There are some actors who seem to have a crib sheet of What They Want To Talk About hidden in their cuff sleeves, so if you ask them about, say, their thoughts on sexism or politics or diversity, they will deftly turn it around to a conversation about their latest project. Others don’t seem keen to talk to the press at all. Marta Dusseldorp, currently on Wentworth and best known for TV series Janet King, Jack Irish and A Place to Call Home, falls into neither of those camps. You raise your weapon, she shoots back quickly, refires, then shoots again. Example: On ageing, as a female, in the entertainment industry: “I think it is still problematic, 100 per cent. You only have to look at how women choose to journey through their ageing process. And that’s their right… I’m nearly 48. So am I now going to have to transition to grandmother roles – but just have heaps of energy?”
On cuts being made to both acting and journalism during the pandemic: “We’re trying to create a world that we think is liveable, and in all of this we need to stay kind to each other and fight for us as Australians. It sounds silly, but we are in jeopardy of losing that. Magazines shutting down, all these people losing their jobs everywhere – if we don’t have a platform for our voice, it is possible we will lose our culture. And I shudder at the thought, because it’s now this shared world landscape and there needs to be room for everyone.”
On the discrepancy between female versus male wages in her industry: “It’s still not equal. One could almost say that’s historical, right? No one can really talk about what they get paid – it seems rude, and it’s [also] a way to keep people silent [when] you don’t know what the other person is getting. [As a woman], you’re still made to feel like you’re lucky and that it’s a good deal… and then later on you find out it wasn’t. It’s a problem.”
Welcome to the Dusseldorp conversational rollercoaster. At first, her deliberate, mannered speech dupes you into thinking you’re going slowly; then all of a sudden you’re at the top of the ride and your head is spinning with the dizzying pace of her thoughts. Just because she’s moved from hustly-bustly Sydney to the retro comforts of Hobart with her family (actor-director husband Ben Winspear and daughters Grace and Maggie) doesn’t mean she’s slowed down. In fact she’s busier than ever, having started stage and screen company Archipelago Productions with her husband. Its first play, The Bleeding Tree, written by playwright Angus Cerini, premieres this week at Hobart’s Theatre Royal, with Dusseldorp as its star.
“What we want to add to what is out there are stories that have social taboos and impact strategies around them,” she says. The Bleeding Tree has been called a “powerful, visceral, funny but challenging piece”; Dusseldorp says that, in this pandemic era, audiences will see parallels in their own lives.
“We’ve all just been through it in some way – there’s been a moment where we’ve felt lost, alone, challenged, violated… It’s about domestic violence, and we know there’s been a peak of domestic abuse and coercive behaviour and that is what we need to be talking about right now. It’s the steps towards the violence we need to acknowledge, educate police and [change] legislation around it so it can be stopped before it turns into bruises.” The play’s program even contains a list of outreach numbers and contacts.
In her self-appointed role as “cultural agitator,” Dusseldorp has commissioned artist Amanda Davies to create an artistic response to the play’s themes, and her six works will be on display in the Theatre Royal’s foyer and in The Bett Gallery. It’s her way of connecting with the wider community, and ensuring the important messages are still heard after the lights are turned up again.
“We’re trying to create a world that we think is liveable, and in all of this we need to stay kind to each other and fight for us as Australians. It sounds silly, but we are in jeopardy of losing that. Magazines shutting down, all these people losing their jobs everywhere – if we don’t have a platform for our voice, it is possible we will lose our culture.”
“That’s my hell – when I walk out of the theatre and I hear someone say, ‘Are we picking up the dog tomorrow or is it staying another night at the kennel?’ My heart breaks,” she says. “I’m very interested in reaching people that aren’t necessarily expecting to be reached, they just want a nice night out. And it’s always a nice night too, that’s my job.”
In Tasmania, and especially with pandemic restrictions, her life has become more family intensive. “I haven’t been home for longer than two weeks at a stretch, for probably eight or nine years. Unless we went on a holiday, where I carved out some time, I would be doing the television shows or some theatre, because I needed to practice and contact the audience and feel like I could still do it. I did that because I understood there was a window where I was being asked to perform. Sometimes you feel like there’s an expiry date [in this industry] and that can haunt you.
“But I had the energy and I didn’t ignore my children… they were brought on to the sets or were on the stage with us – we’ve always made them a part of our circus. My husband and I are best when we’re working together. That’s where we met, and that’s where we have the most in common apart from the raising of our kids. So we strive for that and reach for that.”
Marta has long since left behind the insecurities of her 20s when she got rejected for big movies because, “I wasn’t Australian enough, or I was too big, personality-wise. I didn’t have that laidback Australian [personality]. When I was in my 20s, it was all about being laidback and beachy and I was not. I remember being put on hold for Lord of the Rings, because I was more that warrior type. I had a reputation already of being more bolshie and front footed.”
The Bleeding Tree premieres at the Theatre Royal in Hobart on November 12.
Interview with Marta Dusseldorp by Rachelle Unreich
Photos_ Carlotta Moye
Hair & Make-Up_ Peter Beard
Fashion_ Bally