« Here to Stay - Series 1
Ep 3 - ENGLISH
Description
Here To Stay - The English can be rented or bought through Vimeo here.
Actor / director Michael Hurst journeys into the core of English traditions in NZ, the upperclass sports and letters, the working class passion for meat and three vege, unions and Minis.
Michael is a very well known Auckland actor, who is a member of the NZ Order of Merit and has been an Arts Foundation laureate. He has been a stage actor since 1980 and started his television career in1 984, which includes a long run as the sidekick Eolis in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, and as a director of both Xena and Hercules. He is cast in the NZ feature film The Tattoist, and played the evil robot Maska in Maddigan’s Quest.
Michael’s working class parents moved to Christchurch from Lancashire (St. Helens) when he was six, and he landed in the suburb of Harewood, where he lost his accent as quickly as possible. His parents could see no future for them in England, his dad was a glass cutter (who became a labourer) - his mother did many semi-skilled jobs. He deliberately chose the more working class Papanui College for secondary school. He is a regular stage actor and director in Auckland, won last year’s (2005) Metro Reader Poll as Best NZ Actor, and is married to a Jennifer Ward Leland.
For more information on English history in NZ, visit the Te Ara Encyclopaedia
