Sara Wiseman Photo: Supplied
A familiar face from stage and screen in New Zealand and Australia, Sara Wiseman is on stage with ATC for the first time in 20 years, as Dr Lorna James in The Effect.
The play, written by British writer, Lucy Prebble, centres around a clinical drug trial for a new antidepressant, in which two participants fall in love. Wiseman’s character is one of two doctors overseeing the trial. Directed by Benjamin Kilby-Henson, with a soundtrack designed by Chelsea Jade, it’s a fast-paced, high energy show in which the chemistry between the characters is centrestage.
Speaking to Culture 101 for Fast Favourites, Wiseman shares her arts and culture recommendations. Heavily influenced by her current character, as part of her research she has been listening to the New Zealand true-crime podcast Guilt by actor and lawyer, Ryan Wolf and Huberman Lab, hosted by neuroscientist at Stanford School of Medicine Dr Andrew Huberman. Often ranked the top health podcast in the world, it looks at the brain and its connections with the body, control, perceptions and behaviours.
Television recommendations include the second season of The Jinx. It follows the story of a US real estate heir and convicted murderer, Robert Durst and his involvement in a disappearance and two murders. Wiseman is also recommending the local production, filmed in Kaikoura and set in the wake of the 2016 earthquake, Friends Like Her on Three.
Sara Wiseman spoke to Culture 101’s Perlina Lau.
