美国国家公共电台 NPR Australian Star Marta Dusseldorp: 'Compassion And Imagination Go Hand In Hand'

Australian Star Marta Dusseldorp: 'Compassion¹ And Imagination Go Hand In Hand'

play pause stop mute unmute max volume 00:0005:20repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser² to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. SCOTT SIMON, HOST: 

Marta Dusseldorp is a name that's almost as familiar in Australian households as Vegemite on toast. She stars in the hit shows "Jack³ Irish," "Crownies," "Janet King" and "A Place To Call Home," a series that Entertainment Weekly has called Australia's sexiest period soap.

It's set in 1950 small-town Australia, features great characters, great costumes, homophobia, xenophobia - all kinds of phobias - and scintillating⁴ secrets that burn to come out over a season.

Marta Dusseldorp plays nurse Sarah Adams in "A Place To Call Home," and she joins us in our studios. Thanks so much for being with us.

MARTA DUSSELDORP: It's wonderful to be here, Scott.

SIMON: Sexiest period soap - how do you feel about that?

DUSSELDORP: Well, well, well - sure. I think George and Sarah have some steamy scenes, it's true. And there's a bit of young love in there, too. Yeah, sounds good to me.

SIMON: Help set the show for Americans who haven't seen it yet.

DUSSELDORP: It's set in the 1950s, post-war. And it starts with a woman standing⁵ on the bow of a ship. And she's coming home after being away for close on 30 years. She's coming home because her mother's not well. And very soon, you find out that she's changed her name because she's converted to Judaism. And her mother rejects her completely and throws her back out onto the street.

And luckily, on the ship, she's met this gorgeous man, Mr. George Bligh, and - well, a love affair has started. And - but it's unrequited love. They're not allowed to. So it's a little bit "Romeo And Juliet". And it's filled with the pain and shrapnel of the war and the changing of Australia in this time.

SIMON: We conveniently have a clip where your character, Sarah Adams, the nurse, confronts her mother after all this time.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "A PLACE TO CALL HOME")

KRIS MCQUADE: (As Grace Stevens) I suppose you want me to call you Sarah.

DUSSELDORP: (As Sarah Adams) That's my name now.

MCQUADE: (As Grace Stevens) Why don't you just leave?

DUSSELDORP: (As Sarah Adams) I have come halfway⁶ around the world for you. I'm not giving up that easily.

MCQUADE: (As Grace Stevens) Then we'll go to the church. And you'll go on your knees and ask him for forgiveness for what you've done. You'll repent⁷, and I'll forgive you everything, every wrong.

DUSSELDORP: (As Sarah Adams) You can do that now.

MCQUADE: (As Grace Stevens) Let him into your heart again, then I can love you.

DUSSELDORP: (As Sarah Adams) This isn't about the church. I'm your child.

MCQUADE: (As Grace Stevens) You come here in my mourning to make me weak. Well, I'm not.

DUSSELDORP: (As Sarah Adams) Mom...

MCQUADE: (As Grace Stevens) I didn't ask you to come.

DUSSELDORP: (As Sarah Adams) ...Please.

MCQUADE: (As Grace Stevens) Take your Jew name and go. I have no daughter. Go.

SIMON: That's tough stuff.

DUSSELDORP: Yeah, that's the amazing Kris McQuade, the actress who plays my mother. Yeah, it was a really tough scene because she's so - she is relentless⁸. She just grabs you with her eyes, and she won't let go. So - and I think - yeah, that is the reason it's called "A Place To Call Home" - because she has no home.

SIMON: Does 1950s Australia, which firstly, seemed a lot farther than - from the United States and Great Britain than it does now - how far does it seem to you? Is it another planet, or do you recognize parts of your life today in the Australia of the '50s?

DUSSELDORP: Not really, and I think that's a shame because there was a gracefulness⁹. And people were more particular then. They didn't talk so much. I think that's OK. When I play Sarah, I try to stop talking so much. And that means listening more, which I think is one of the greatest qualities of a human being but also to reserve judgment¹⁰. She reserves judgment. In the 1950s, there was a lot of judgment...

SIMON: Yeah. I mean, I was about to point out the - all the anti-Semitism, the racism¹¹...

DUSSELDORP: Absolutely.

SIMON: ...The xenophobia.

DUSSELDORP: I guess because I don't play that character, I don't understand that place. I don't need to understand it, thankfully. But my grandmother was very influential¹² on me - both grandmothers. One was European, and one was a Australian. And they had a grace and stoicism that I really loved, and I feel them. When I play this show and I'm surrounded by the Tupperware (laughter), I can smell their perfume and their simplicity¹³. And yet, they were incredibly strong women who were balancing all sorts of things. So that, I think, hasn't changed at all.

SIMON: What's satisfying to you about this profession?

DUSSELDORP: I think storytelling is important for maintaining cultural integrity, identity. I think identity leads to compassion, and compassion and imagination go hand in hand. And I think if you have an imagination, then you can understand how people who are less fortunate than you need your help and you can reach out to them. And I love connecting with the - especially in live theater, you connect with people. And to me, that's the most satisfying experience I've ever had in my life - is when I talk to people and I enrich their lives. I give them a chance to reflect on themselves, on who they are and their parents and their grandparents and their children. And that's what I'm here for - on the earth - is to be a human being with other human beings and so, yeah.

SIMON: Marta Dusseldorp. The fourth series of "A Place To Call Home" premieres on Acorn¹⁴ TV on Thanksgiving Day.

Thanks very much for being with us.

DUSSELDORP: Thank you for having me.

1 compassion   

n.同情，怜悯

参考例句：

• He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
• Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。

2 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

3 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

4 scintillating   

adj．才气横溢的,闪闪发光的; 闪烁的

参考例句：

• Statistics on unemployment levels hardly make for scintillating reading. 失业统计数据读来不大会有趣味。
• You were scintillating on TV last night. 您昨晚在电视上妙语如珠。

5 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

6 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

7 repent   

v.悔悟，悔改，忏悔，后悔

参考例句：

• He has nothing to repent of.他没有什么要懊悔的。
• Remission of sins is promised to those who repent.悔罪者可得到赦免。

8 relentless   

adj.残酷的，不留情的，无怜悯心的

参考例句：

• The traffic noise is relentless.交通车辆的噪音一刻也不停止。
• Their training has to be relentless.他们的训练必须是无情的。

9 gracefulness   

参考例句：

• His manly beauty and more than common gracefulness were instantly the theme of general admiration. 他那男子气的美和出众的优雅风度马上成了大家赞扬的话题。 来自辞典例句
• Magnanimousness, tastefulness gracefulness are basic traits and characters of Shan cuisine. 这即是陕菜的基本特征及品性、风格。 来自互联网

10 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

11 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

12 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

13 simplicity   

n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯

参考例句：

• She dressed with elegant simplicity.她穿着朴素高雅。
• The beauty of this plan is its simplicity.简明扼要是这个计划的一大特点。

14 acorn   

n.橡实，橡子

参考例句：

• The oak is implicit in the acorn.橡树孕育于橡子之中。
• The tree grew from a small acorn.橡树从一粒小橡子生长而来。