Pictures: Dean O’Gorman, Andi Crown.
Not many New Zealanders could say they have an Emmy Award displayed on the bookcase in their lounge, but then Shoshana McCallum isn’t your average Kiwi. “I’m a workaholic!” the actor and writer declares.
In 2021, housebound by Covid, Shoshana banded together with two good mates to make Inside, a TV series inspired by the lockdown. Starring Friends Like Her actress Morgana O’Reilly and comedian Josh Thomson, it would go on to kickstart the production company Luminous Beast, which Shoshana set up with fellow writers and actors Dan Musgrove and Peter Salmon.
People subsequently nominated Inside for an International Emmy. “It was just the weirdest moment,” Shoshana marvels. “We really didn’t believe it!”
Because of lockdown restrictions, they couldn’t fly to the States to be there for the ceremony, so she, Dan and Pete got together with their spouses – Dan is married to Westside star Antonia Prebble and Pete to Morgana – to watch the livestream while outside and socially distanced.
“We won!” she laughs. “Method Man from [hip-hop collective] Wu-Tang Clan presented our Emmy.
“Winning the Emmy meant that I took away some of the limitations I’ve put on myself. We’re in this tiny country with no money and few resources. It’s so hard. But at the end of the day, nothing matters except your idea and how hard you work on it. I found it liberating, motivating and really exciting.”
The multitalented 39-year-old’s constantly working on a handful of projects at once, which means she barely has time for anything else. “I’m really busy, but it’s all of my own making,” she says.
Her show Madam – starring Six Feet Under actress Rachel Griffiths as a Kiwi brothel owner and co-written with former Shortland Street star Harry McNaughton – is currently picking up awards overseas and Luminous Beast is also behind the hit series After The Party, which stars Robyn Malcolm. Meanwhile, Shoshana has a bunch of other projects on the go that she’s not allowed to talk about.
The Westside and Head High screenwriter can’t believe her luck.
“I get to try to make people laugh or cry for a living,” she says. “I’m ambitious and I have a lot to say. I want to say it in a way that connects with people. I’ve always had high standards and I give a s**t. I really care.”
Now, though, Shoshana is combining her passion for writing with her first love, acting. Having trained at The Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theatre in New York, she returned to New Zealand in 2009 and found herself getting more writing jobs. This year, she has decided to turn the focus to herself. She’s excitedly rehearsing her first solo show as part of the Auckland Fringe Festival.
Merely Beloved is a comedy about death, grief and love. Shoshana plays Elaine, a recent widow who can’t get the idea out of her head that her husband is cheating on her in Heaven with his also-deceased first wife.
“I’ve always been interested in how you deal with the hard stuff in a light way,” she muses. “It’s important I honoured the depth of the subject matter. That was never compromised by the idea of also trying to make people laugh.”
Married since 2020, Shoshana giggles at the thought of her husband, Mikey, 45, watching from the audience.
“It’ll be weird performing a show I wrote about my dead husband with my actual husband watching! But Mikey is a muse in everything I do. He’s such a deep thinker and the points of view in this show throw up some really good discussions about what happens when we finally die.”
Although Merely Beloved may have some macabre themes, Shoshana is having a ball rehearsing with her director Renee Lyons, who played Stevie-Lee on Shorty.
“She’s naturally drawn to the weirdness of life, which makes me really excited,” Shoshana says of Renee.
The show is a double bill with Madam star Florence Hartigan’s solo show Me, My Mother And Suzy Cato.
“We rehearse together and we worked together closely on Madam,” says Shoshana. “Our shows are both comedies about women and based on some deep, familial, tragic stuff, but they’re so different.
I love it. It’s just really fun.”
Merely Beloved runs from Tuesday to Saturday. For info and tickets, visit aucklandfringe.co.nz.
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
