Stage master

Raymond Hawthorne will be directing ATC's production of Guys and Dolls. Pic Ted Baghurst.

In his stylish studio apartment in Auckland city, theatre doyen Raymond Hawthorne is surrounded by the elegant yet simple trappings of a life lived well: classical music CDs, fine art prints, pottery, books and photos of his much-loved daughters, Sophia and Emmeline.

Hawthorne is as urbane as his surroundings, immaculately dressed in smart jeans, a pink collared shirt with a navy blue jumper and well-polished shoes. When he heads out into the blustery afternoon, he tops the outfit off with a woollen coat and scarf.

Reflecting on turning 80 next year, he shrugs when asked about retirement and says he sometimes thinks about it but probably won't do it. He's presently preparing to direct Auckland Theatre Company's end of year musical, Guys and Dolls.

Hawthorne has a 16 strong cast, including Shane Cortese, Roy Snow, Auckland newcomer Rachel O'Connell and his own daughter Sophia. In a 2009 interview with the New Zealand Woman's Weekly, both said nepotism is never involved when

she appears in one of his shows. He told the Weekly he likes to tell his drama students, 'if you think I'm hard on you, you should see how tough I am with

my daughters!'

It also reunites him with creative collaborator designer Tracy Grant Lord whom he first met at the Mercury Theatre. He says the two have an innate understanding and even when they don't see eye to eye which isn't often she'll always listen to his opinion and create alternatives that please them both.

Amazingly Hawthorne has never worked on Frank Loesser's musical comedy; has seen it only once at the Mercury Theatre many years ago and didn't much like the film because it was too long and naturalistic. When asked by ATC artistic director Colin McColl to direct it for Auckland, Hawthorne went to his cosy home and listened to the CD which includes immortal classics like Luck be a Lady Tonight, Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat and I've Never Been in Love Before.

"I knew every word of the songs, probably because they are so much a part of the musical culture; during the years, I must have just absorbed them into me," he says. "I got the script and thought it was very funny but far too long so I have cut bits here and there and now I think it will be fun and exciting."

Hawthorne says he looks for material which interests him and will offer creative challenges. Three years ago, he starred as Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream which involved swaggering shirtless around the stage and, in one scene, tagging with spray paint a piece of the scenery. He said he'd taken a little while to get used to the idea of playing the roguish sprite but had been attracted to the production because it was different and sounded intriguing.

He liked the idea of directing Guys and Dolls partly because it's a production he hasn't been involved with before and because of the design challenges involved in staging what many regard as the perfect musical comedy. But he did think the script, like the film, was too long and acknowledges he's made some cuts to keep it moving apace.

Given Hawthorne has spent most of his life working in the theatre, an institution synonymous with urban-living, it would be easy to pigeon-hole him as a city-dweller through and through. But, he grew up in Hawkes Bay and says he sometimes contemplates returning to his more rural roots.

"But my sister-in-law says I'd shoot myself within two weeks," he grins, "because there wouldn't be enough for me to do there, but I don't think that's true. I love the countryside and I love horses."

He rode to Pakipaki School (now Te Kura Pakipaki) and, later, Hastings High School (before it was a boys' school) on his own pony that he started riding when he was just two. Hawthorne is fond of recanting a childhood tale of how, dogged by rheumatic fever, he spent a number of his formative years recuperating and reading. He hurled Anna Sewell's Black Beauty across the backyard and refused to finish it for years when he was heartbroken by the death of Ginger the horse, one of Beauty's friends.

Most of his life has been spent working in Wellington, Auckland or, from 1957 to 71, in the United Kingdom. Of course, Hawthorne didn't realise it at the time but his career started when he was five years old and won a primary school singing competition judged by Emma Natzke, the mother of Russian New Zealand opera singer Oscar who performed internationally until his death aged 39.

"World War II was just over and I was singing There'll be Bluebirds over the White Cliffs of Dover," he recalls, "and after, Emma Natzke approached my mother, who was a very acquiescent woman in these matters, and told her, 'your son has a good voice; you need to get him trained,' and my mother nodded and that's what we did."

After performing with Hawkes Bay community opera and theatrical companies, he joined the country's first professional theatre company, The New Zealand Players, in 1955; gained a government bursary in 1957 to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and stayed in the UK, performing and later teaching at RADA, until he returned home in 1971 to nurse his terminally ill mother, Mabel. He ran Theatre Corporate from the early 1970s to 1981, directed Opera New Zealand and later the Mercury Theatre before setting up the Actor's Space and, in 1997, joining the UNITEC School of Performing and Screen Arts as Head of the Major Directing and Writing for Theatre and Screen.

Hawthorne's great-grandfather was the artist John Gully, but his parents (Mabel worked as a governess before marrying farmhand Victor) and two older brothers did not share his love for singing and acting. Indeed, oldest brother, Norman, who died last year aged 87, was regarded as one of the great characters of New Zealand's thoroughbred industry having operated Paramount Stud firstly in Hawkes Bay and then the Waikato.

He admits he sometimes wonders how his career might have developed had he stayed in the United Kingdom but does not regret coming home and has never thought of doing anything else apart from his mid-teens, when he thought he might want to be a lawyer.

He describes himself as a people person who is fascinated by human nature; his lengthy association with the performing arts has allowed him to pursue this interest in terms of the collegial character of the industry and the material he gets to work with. He says finding creative solutions to the challenges presented by staging various plays and musicals and the "privilege" of working with a diverse range of energetic and creative people keeps him youthful and invigorates the mind.

"I am so proud of the younger people I have worked alongside and we often become such great friends," he says. "With my contemporaries, there's the joy in having watched one another's successes over the years and shared memories. When you share your life with people in this business and watch one another grow and learn; you are bonded to them in a very special way."

Guys and Dolls runs from Oct 29th
Bookings open now