MARK HADLOW

// The Hobbit.

Award-winning Kiwi actor Mark Hadlow has appeared in countless movies and TV series, and is probably best known for playing the dwarf Dori in But his real love remains live theatre, and he is now part of a team hoping to bring more of that to his new home in the top of the South Island. Hadlow, 65, lives with his wife, Jane, in a modern home in Nelson.

MARK: We’ve lived here for two-and-a-half years. My wife, Jane, wanted to retire and we came to Nelson and loved it. We’ve lived all over the place, but this house was built specifically for us to downsize into.

We absolutely adore it, it’s so convenient and extremely well-built. We had the best builder in the world – he came in on time and under budget. And we’ve got lovely neighbours and the community in Nelson is incredible.

In the weather event here last year, we had two metres of mud piled up at the back of the house. Nothing would have stopped the power of that and when we heard the retaining wall snapping it was absolutely terrifying. But we were some of the lucky ones.

I am wearing about 800 hats at the moment. But I have become involved with creating the Nelson Professional Theatre Company with likeminded people. The performance industry is really struggling. Everybody is getting their entertainment on screen but theatre is so pivotal. You feel it, you breathe it, you ingest it. It’s three-dimensional.

The top of the south will have a professional theatre company for the first time in years. Our mandate is to have a varied programme and to make pricing accessible.

This is about pathways for future talent, a way for people to gain experience. I want the community to feel so proud. I want to give something back.

Most days I get up at 6.30am and usually have a cup of tea and two pieces of toast with Pic’s peanut butter and honey on Vogel’s bread.

Then I’ll walk or go for a bike ride for a couple of hours: I have to remain fit at my age to carry on acting.

Jane does most of the cooking. I try to cook but it’s not my strength. Although my cheese on toast is exquisite, and my chicken sandwiches are amazing.

In the evening we might watch a bit of TV. I’ve been enjoying The Game and I liked Happy Valley.

I like a lot of that older stuff, Brideshead Revisited, that sort of thing.

I read a lot of plays and I like autobiographies. One of the books in the bookcase is Ghosts of Everest about George Mallory and Andrew Irvine who climbed Everest but were both killed, and a 1999 expedition to find what happened to them.

They found Mallory’s body: it was almost like a sculpture, and he had a broken leg. He died alone on that mountain and you felt all of that incredible concern in the book.

The planes are from a shop in Auckland. We wanted to put all the place names on the wall of places we have travelled to as a family, or individually. So we have London, Sydney, Gisborne, India … to name a few. My stepson was an RAF pilot, so the planes have significance for him too.

The sculpture is a bit like Rodin’s thinking man, but a bit more scrawny and middle-aged. In the wee small hours when I can’t sleep I get up, go outside, and I can see him through the window. I ask him questions that are incredibly personal about myself. Am I treating people the way I want to be treated … things like that.

I’ve had 45 years of living out of a suitcase. I love my home but wherever I can lay my head and feel safe is my home. It’s not something I take for granted.