Proof that there's never a dull night

Anne Heche did it. Gwyneth Paltrow also did it and is doing it again on film. And now Sara Wiseman is about to do it - perform in David Auburn's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Proof, which opens at Maidment Studio Theatre tomorrow.

Back on stage after three years' filming Mercy Peak, Wiseman, who played lead Dr Nicky Somerville in the television drama, says she misses the series and sometimes still quotes Somerville without thinking.

"It's hard to let go. I carry the character with me until the season is over. It's a grieving process but at the end of the day it's just a fictional character and you have to let go."

Playing Somerville was a dream role, 32-year-old Wiseman says. But she has had a few plum jobs since completing a bachelor of screen and performing arts at Unitec in 1998 and has hardly been out of work since. Stints on Xena, Hercules, Jackson's Wharf, Serial Killers and Street Legal mean she is one of New Zealand's most employed actors. But she says that it's theatre that really gets the adrenalin going.

"It's just a shame it's so much harder to get people to come and see live theatre and be challenged by it and learn from it."

Wearing a bright red sweater, cargo pants and trainers, Wiseman could be any student on campus, not a well-known actor.

She has performed in several Auckland Theatre Company productions, including Death of a Salesman, Cabaret, Amy's View and Collected Stories, as well as Ladies' Night and Leah.

"Nothing beats playing to a live audience," she says, explaining that a live audience is like a character in itself. "Every night the play is different because the audience is different."

She hopes theatregoers will be leaving their cellphones at home. "There's nothing more off-putting than a phone going off during a show. Worse is when the person answers it."

In Proof, directed by Heath Jones, Wiseman plays Catherine, the daughter of a mathematician, played by Geoff Snell, who in his later years goes insane. Both father and daughter are intellectuals. After nursing her father until his death, Catherine starts worrying that she, too, will lose her mind.

Wiseman says she draws on universal feelings to portray those of Catherine.

"Everyone has moments of anxiety, depression and fear and it's about drawing on those feelings and choosing which ones and how much to take."

She finds the most challenging aspect of playing Catherine is responding intellectually during arguments - not responding emotionally, which is her norm.

But that's what she loves about acting. "Every night is an opportunity to grow and develop."

Like other professionals hitting career highs, Wiseman has plans and film scripts to get on with.

She says it is likely she will star in a feature film early next year. But with no contract signed, her lips are sealed.

On stage

*What: Proof

*Where and when: Maidment Studio, tomorrow to Oct 2