She’s been a mainstay on New Zealand screens and stages for the past 40 years, racking up awards for her work, all while raising a family. But even as Kiwi acting legend Alison Bruce looks back at all the wonderful things she’s done in her life, she admits she’s still a little daunted by the prospect of turning 60.
“The number 60 is pretty challenging, to be honest,” says The Gulf star. “But I realised I’ve always felt like that. From about 27, no matter what age I’m turning, I start freaking out a bit.
“I really admire people who go, ‘Hey, it’s my birthday, it’s my day!’ I’d like to be a bit more like that. I look around at my friends who are 60 and older, and they are beautiful, interesting and good fun. It’s just a paradigm shift.”
Alison, however, does concede there are many things she loves about being middle-aged and one is the wealth of interesting roles she has been offered in recent years.
“People are starting to realise that middle-aged women are actually very interesting,” she laughs.
Her upcoming role in Auckland Theatre Company’s production of The Made is one such part. Alison plays Alice, a visionary scientist who’s trying to build an emotionally intelligent robot while battling her chauvinistic male colleagues and balancing her family life.
While the self-described technophobe knows next to nothing about artificial intelligence, Alison says she sees so much of her life reflected in Alice’s.
“She’s menopausal for one, which I’m just about at the end of thankfully,” Alison jokes. “It has been held as a shameful, embarrassing aspect of womanhood, but now there’s so much conversation about it, which is fantastic.
“And she’s a woman juggling. As mothers, we tend to put all our energy into the people that are in our care. Now that I’m not in that hands-on phase of parenthood, I’ve got space to actually have time for myself and look after myself.”
While she doesn’t have to worry about the school run or being home to put children to bed, Alison admits her kids, whom she shares with partner and The Brokenwood Mysteries star Neill Rea, are never far from her mind. Especially as both Leonardo, 25, and Sugar, 20, have followed in their parents’ creative footsteps.
The eldest has just graduated from New Zealand acting school Toi Whakaari, while the youngest is halfway through her studies in the prestigious programme. Though Alison is delighted her kids have both found something that brings them joy, she knows just how difficult it is to make a living as an actor in Aotearoa and a part of her wishes they had chosen more traditional careers.
“When it became clear that’s what they wanted to do, I thought, ‘Couldn’t you become a plumber or a mechanic? Something pragmatic where you get paid for what you do?'” tells the New Zealand Television Awards winner.
“In the last few years, Neill and I have both had plenty of work, so they don’t remember when we couldn’t pay the mortgage or we were having to beg, steal or borrow just to pay the rent. They were too little. So, I worry about that, but I suspect we worry about our kids forever anyway.”
Alison’s gritty roles include TV series The Gulf.
Though the whole clan is now in the acting business, Alison says audiences shouldn’t hold their breath for a family production any time soon. In fact, in the 23 years she and Neill have been a couple, they’ve only worked together a handful of times.
And their recent experience was enough to almost put Alison off doing it again.
“It was really hard, actually,” she admits with a grimace. “We really had to learn how to work together.”
The pair starred in a theatre production of Stephen King’s psychological thriller Misery at Centrepoint Theatre in Palmerston North. In the lead-up to the show, the couple spent almost every waking hour learning lines and rehearsing, and the dark subject matter – about a novelist held captive by a deranged fan – took over their lives.
With Neill in Misery.
“You can’t help but absorb some of what you’re working with,” she tells. “I think in the end, the play was great, but I would not want to do something like that again. We’d only work together on something a bit lighter.”
Instead, now our border is open again, the pair are much more interested in seeing the world rather than being stuck in a rehearsal room.
“I really like travelling with Neill, we’re good adventurers together,” she smiles. “We’re quite keen to go to Svalbard, see the top of the world, and do some exploring.”
Alison stars in Auckland Theatre Company’s world premiere season of The Made by Emily Perkins at the ASB Waterfront Theatre on now until October 8. For tickets and info, visit atc.co.nz
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