Marta Dusseldorp joins the acclaimed ensemble cast of Foxtel prison drama, Wentworth
Marta Dusseldorp won hearts as a nurse in A Place To Call Home and plaudits for her role in Janet King. Now she’s gone to the dark side and reveals why she’s signed up to hit prison drama Wentworth.
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Exclusive: Look who’s got those prison blues?
A Place To Call Home favourite Marta Dusseldorp has swapped her nurse’s uniform for an infamous teal tracksuit, joining the award-winning ensemble cast for the epic final season of Foxel’s acclaimed drama series, Wentworth.
The 47-year-old star of stage and screen told News Corp Australia she had been offered roles on the reimagined Prisoner series in the past, but leapt at the chance to play the gritty part of Sheila Bausch, a woman accused of theft, arson and mass murder.
“I sometimes vote for the AACTAs and I do for the [peer-voted] Logies, which means I watch everything, and I’ve always found Wentworth to be just so beautifully told. Sometimes it's hard to watch when it comes to those really heavy stories where you think, ‘I can’t take this’ but the performances, how it’s put together, the integrity of that team, I was always so impressed and genuinely in awe,” she said.
The series returns for part one of its eighth and final season next month, renamed Wentworth Redemption.
But Dusseldorp’s arrival on set earlier this year coincided with the declaration of the coronavirus pandemic, which has since halted production.
She explained she channelled the growing sense of anxiety and fear into her scenes, before having to race against the clock to get back to her Hobart home before strict quarantine legislation took effect.
“Just as it was tumbling in towards us, I was shooting these scenes fuelled by my fear and panic. Because having been put in prison when you believe you’re innocent, without giving too much away, it feels just like ‘I have to stay contained in my hotel room,’ or ‘maybe I can’t get back into the state where I live.’
She said: “Like everyone there was a level of trauma which I felt very acutely about what was happening in the world. I’d just finished shooting Wentworth and got back in just before midnight before Tassie shut down.
Despite its dark storylines, Dusseldorp believes shows like Wentworth could help the audience understand and process their COVID-related emotions.
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“That show is not light, but the connections in that show … the loyalties … and the stories about people needing to fight for their lives, I think it will be as welcomed as the everyone’s dancing, singing, happy, fun, playful side of drama.”
Along with her actor and director husband, Ben Winspear, the couple have been forced to temporarily shelve plans to launch their new theatre company, Archipelago Productions, until social distancing restrictions lift.
Dusseldorp felt relieved she “didn’t have to jump straight into another difficult role in The Bleeding Heart [about domestic violence] … but we’d taken a year and a half to get that funded. People had bought tickets and were flying in and we were opening a brand new theatre down here … so I would feel relief and then I would feel imprisoned by it.”
The artistic couple remain committed to presenting the play’s messages of hope and overcoming adversity.
“The play is a celebration of defeating this entrapment, this imprisonment and abuse” Dusseldorp said, “and finding a way through.”
* Wentworth Redemption premieres Tuesday, July 28 only on Foxtel.