Can George Henare top his own grand performance? asks Sharu Delilkan.
George Henare is readying himself for a return performance as Alfieri in the Arthur Miller play A View from the Bridge. A stupendous volume of water has flowed under said bridge since 1989 when Henare was cast in the
role at Mercury Theatre for the first time. Henare says this time around he feels more prepared to play Alfieri, who's essentially the show's narrator.
"It's fantastic being able to come back and do a lovely role like that 20 years later, where I'm able to see a lot more. I'd like to think of it as deeper than my previous cursory look," says Henare.
"I had absolutely no idea he'd acted in the show before," says the director Jesse Peach. "He was basically the first person that came to mind when I decided to do the show."
Peach Theatre Company has gathered some of New Zealand's finest actors, including Annie Whittle plus current Shortland Streeters Robbie Magasiva and Anna Jullienne.
In A View from the Bridge a middle-aged docker's envy of a young couple from different cultures sinks into a tangle of good intentions turned bad.
Henare says he looks forward to working with Jullienne (Nurse Maia in SS) who plays Catherine. "I've always wanted to work with her in that role."
One of this country's most experienced theatre directors, Raymond Hawthorne, who directed Henare in the Mercury production, says, "That production was a defining moment for George. I can't tell you how marvellous he was. He held the whole play together and set the bar for everybody.
"As far as I was concerned, what he did was utter perfection. I'm really looking forward to seeing what he does with it this time."
A View from the Bridge, TAPAC, Motions Rd (opposite the Zoo), Western Springs, Oct 22 - 31. Tickets: ph 845 0295 ext 1 or see: www.tapac.org.nz
