KEY POINTS:
What: Frangipani Perfume, Prague Gala Season fundraiser
Where and when: Maidment Studio, to Sat Aug 18, 8pm; (09) 308 2383 for bookings
What: Rachel House Benefit Concert
Where and when: Galatos, Aug 26
Rachel House knows how to make you feel at home. A nice cup of fresh-brewed coffee and a relaxing chat on the sunny porch of the Ponsonby villa she rents from her parents. But the 35-year-old actor, widely regarded as one of the best of her generation in New Zealand theatre and film, is leaving it all behind.
In September, she is off to the Prague Centre for Further Education and Professional Development - Prague Film School, for short - to pursue the career she really craves, directing.
House, a graduate of Toi Whakaari Drama School in Wellington in 1993, has had a strong showing as an actor, appearing in films such as Whale Rider and, most recently, Shark vs Eagle. She stunned theatre audiences with her presence in Witi Ihimaera's Woman Far Walking, in which she played 161-year-old kuia Tiri Mahana. Other theatre highlights include Hone Kouka's Waiora, which toured internationally, Nga Pou Wahine, by Briar Grace-Smith, and an outstanding adaptation of Carol Anne Duffy's The World's Wife. But the lure of acting has palled.
So, over recent years, she has also been learning the craft of directing, most notably on the Mitch Tawhi Thomas drama Have Car Will Travel, which won five Chapman Tripp awards, including director of the year for House.
She has also directed the dark Neil LaBute drama The Mercy Seat at the Silo a couple of years ago, Gavin Bishop's Hinepau, which toured to Sydney and Melbourne and Wild Dogs Under My Skirt, which was in the AK07 lineup.
Makerita Urale's Frangipani Perfume has been one of House's most recent successes as a director. A black comedy about three Samoan sisters who leave their Pacific Island home to work as cleaners in New Zealand, it was nominated for most original production in the Chapman Tripp Awards - and it is proving to have legs. After acclaimed seasons here, it toured five cities in Canada last year and, this year, has played at festivals in Cambridge in Britain and Brisbane.
House was also a trainee with director (and actor) Rawiri Paratene on the mini-soap series Whanau for TV One and joined the directing team on Korero Mai for Maori TV, for which she is also part of the rotating panel on Ask Your Auntie.
"I have always wanted to direct," says House. "I stopped being passionate about acting quite a few years ago. Having worked with so many directors, I liked the look of what they were doing. It seemed to be a lot more creatively satisfying, putting all the parts together, joining the puzzle together, creating the tone of a piece.
"It's a funny thing. You can do some really great plays or films. With Woman Far Walking, that was as good as it gets and I didn't want to do any more. It was satisfying but really exhausting and I didn't want to go back there any more. It was feeling like a 9-5 job and I didn't feel excited about it."
House says she has learnt some basics with the experiences she has had so far, but she is barely scraping the surface. "When I went on to the team on Korero Mai, I realised how much I didn't know and how much I wanted to know in terms of sound, lighting and editing which is a process you don't go through in fast turnaround TV."
House applied for the Prague school because it is relatively cheap - $40,000 for a nine-month intensive course - and has "a fantastic reputation". "They get tutors from all over Europe and the United States," she says. "They take a small amount of people, about 50, which ensures you have lots of time with the tutors, the ratio is four to one. And they provide accommodation which makes things easier."
House will study four compulsory subjects - directing, cinematography, editing and screen-writing - on the course which emphasises accelerated learning. House heard she had been accepted into the school at the end of June, when she was overseas touring with Frangipani Perfume. With little time to get organised, there is one significant hitch to her plans - the $40,000 she needs to attend. "All the places I have applied to have turned me down or not got back to me," she laments. "Then I got an email from someone [one of our best-known writers] who has given me money. I was so touched, I cried."
Fortunately, House has friends who are not going to sit back and watch their mate's dream fade. To this end, the Frangipani Perfume team are staging a special short season of the play at the Maidment Studio, which opened last night. Everyone on the team - including actors Kayte Ferguson, Anapela Poutavae and Joy Vaele, and House's flatmate, technician Sean Lynch - are donating their services for free.
House herself is paying for the venue and "technicals and all of that", a venture she describes as "a crazy idea - people lose money in the theatre all the time".
Shall we call it a bravura idea then? "Yeah, go on then," she cackles. "That or stupid."
There will also be a "Send Rachel to Prague" gig at Galatos on August 26, again featuring some of her mates - Tama Waipara, Don McGlashan, Anika Moa and Annie Crummer, with the musicians and technical team again all working for free. "I can't believe my luck," says House.
If House succeeds in getting through Prague and returns to fulfil her dream of making feature films, she is bound to do an excellent job. Her track record speaks for itself. Those funding bodies that turned her down must be mad.
