Actor & director Michael Hurst
DATE: Tuesday 29 June 2004
TIME: 2:00 – 3:00pm
Join our video-conference to talk with theatre legend, Michael Hurst.
Dubbed “our finest interpreter of the Bard" by Metro Magazine, Michael is currently directing and starring in Macbeth at Auckland’s Maidment Theatre to standout reviews:
“We are tackling it head on. This is a work riddled with the crawling fascination of malice inflicted upon the human spirit with devastating and horrific consequences.” Michael Hurst.
Committed to bringing powerful, vivid, thought-provoking works to the stage, Michael was recently honoured by the Arts Foundation of New Zealand with a 2003 Laureate Award. Michael will share with you his 25 years of experience as an actor, director and Shakespeare tutor.
Learn about:
- Interpreting Macbeth
- Staging a production
- Delivering a powerful performance
- Careers in theatre
TO REGISTER FOR THIS VIDEO-CONFERENCE CONTACT jane@cwa.co.nz BY Tuesday 29 June
About Michael:
Michael was 13 years old when he saw King Lear performed on stage. Although he didn’t understand its complexities at the time, the emotion and power it evoked have stayed with him ever since.
He has a lifelong passion for Shakespeare, which has seen him play seven different Shakespearean roles and direct eight plays (see the list below). He has also taught Shakespeare at the Performing Arts School, and has studied it at university.
Michael has directed and performed in a wide range of theatre – from Greek classics like Medea and Lysistrata to the New Zealand comedies Ladies Night and The Sex Fiend, as well as pantomimes he has written himself.
Michael has also enjoyed television and film roles, for example as Hercules’ side-kick Iolaus in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess, and in NZ feature films Desperate Remedies and The Footstep Man.
He directed the 1998 NZ film Jubilee, starring Cliff Curtis.
These days Michael is involved in Classical Studies at Massey University, concentrating on the great tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides.
Shakespeare roles performed:
Hamlet in Hamlet (in his own 1994 and 2003 productions)
Macbeth in Macbeth
Laertes in Hamlet
Paris in Romeo and Juliet
Touchstone in As You Like It
Florizel in The Winter's Tale
The Fool in King Lear
Shakespeare plays directed:
Othello
Hamlet
Romeo and Juliet
Macbeth
The Tempest
The Merchant of Venice
King Lear
Measure For Measure