“It is really hard. It’s calling on all my powers to be able to adapt and I have to have a genuine curiosity for what I’m being a part of and how best to tell the story,” he says.
It might be his first time delving into Shakespeare but Tuhaka isn’t just dabbling.
During the season he will play Othello, the physically powerful, yet psychologically insecure hero of Othello and spiteful Don John in comedy Much Ado About Nothing.
“The rehearsal process is a lot of work but the spirit among the actors is high,” he says.
Tuhaka, who will share the stage with Rawiri Paratene (Whale Rider) and Antonio Te Maioha (Zoolander 2 and Sparticus), says he knew little of Shakespeare before he was invited to audition by Much Ado About Nothing director Miriama McDowell.
“My knowledge of Shakespeare, intellectually, is very small but I have an emotional affinity to it,” he says.
“Much like The Dead Lands, I did the audition process and I didn’t really rate myself but hey, the acting Gods must have been on my side.”
Gifted with natural talentOr perhaps it was more to do with Tuhaka’s natural talent, as he went up against more than 1200 actors from as far away as Russia, Norway and Ireland, applying to be in the second season of the pop-up.
Talent aside, having never studied Shakespeare at a professional level, the rehearsal process has been a huge learning curve for the Gisborne actor.
“The Dead Lands was in my first language, te reo. Shakespeare is the basis of modern day English but it’s my second language so I’m learning a lot,” he says.
McDowell, who is making her directorial debut with Much Ado, and British director Ben Naylor (Othello), are helping Tuhaka start to fall into the Shakespearian rhythm.
“The text itself, in my opinion, is like another character in the play. We really have to honour it to get the comic timing and so on – it’s like the Da Vinci Code but this is Shakespeare, so it’s kind of like William’s Code.”
Deciphering this code has helped Tuhaka realise the impact Shakespeare’s work has had on modern day English.
“Since I have been a part of this process, I’ve gained a greater understanding of the rhythm he used back then . . . in my opinion, the English we speak now is quite lazy and boring. In Shakespeare, everything has a rhythm to it, a flow,” he says.
“Shakespeare will forever be held in high esteem because he shaped the thoughts of not only English people, but the world.”
But as Tuhaka points out, thoughts can be a hindrance when you’re trying to find your feet on the Shakespearian stage.
“One of the hardest parts of the journey, is getting out of the head and sinking into the character,” he says.
And then there is the singing and the dancing . . .
“I’ve done a little singing and dancing before but the emphasis is on the ‘little’,” he says, laughing. “There is a specificity to the movements in Shakespeare, a lot of it is derived from the era.”
“Shakespeare is about telling the audience a story and getting them to completely forget about their lives for two and a half hours.”
Despite all the hard work, Tuhaka says he is a convert.
“I do love Shakespeare, for the history, why he wrote the way he did and where he came from.”
“As I’m having this interview I’m watching the theatre going up – It’s a pretty daunting thing to come here every day and see more of it going up all around you.”
But the Hawke’s Bay’s Eastern Institute of Technology and Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School graduate says he wouldn’t choose another job.
“I love it - there are not many people who go to work everyday and still love it,” he says.
The Pop-Up Globe 2017 runs from February 23 to May 14, with four plays to be showcased over the period.
