16 Connections

Gareth Reeves, 44, is Harry Potter and Michael Whalley, 39, is Ron Weasley in the long-running Melbourne stage show, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Both from Christchurch, sports nuts and dog owners, the hardest thing about playing one of fiction’s mo

Michael Whalley: I knew Gareth before he knew me . At Toi Whakaari ther e wa s a sor tofu rban legend that there had been this guy who had lied on his application form to get into drama school at 17, which was legendary. Throughout drama school, this is 2001 onwards , Ga reth was in all of these stage show s. I thought, “man, that’s cool .H e’s doing exactly what I would like to be doing”. Great Expectations, Court Theatre, doing Tennessee Williams at ATC [Auckland Theatre Company], and plays at Downstage. Thes ewe re all the epitome of where I wanted to go when I was at d rama school.

Gareth Reeves: That’s funny, because I first started thinking about you, when I auditioned for a couple of things. You can count on one hand the guys you are going to see in the audition room. Then you get to these points in your career when suddenly you’re shifting in age and you’re not the young guy any more. Popping up on the list of things that I was auditioning was you as the slightly younger version for the role. Ir emember ther ewa s a role I wa sr eally quite keen on and you got it .Ir emember thinking, who is this cheeky young fellow? Then Is aw you in Wednesday to Come at Downstage, and I thought, OK , he ’s r eally good. That’s good.

Ther ea re people you work with, and Mikey is one of them, where I have to work a little bit harder becaus ehecanc rack me up with just the smallest look. There’s a ce rtain amount of our friendship that we actually have to leave off stage because if we let that door open, just a little bit, it’s ove r. I t ha s happened a couple of times ,fo r no reason at all, we just catch each other’s eye and Mikey and Gareth will be there on stage a little bit more than Harry and Ron.

MW: You’re right, you see a twinkle in the eye or just the corners of your mouth star ttotu rn up and doag rin and it’s, “look away look away. Focus on something else.”

GR: I wish ther e wa s more Harry and Ron in the play, to be honest. Their friendship i ss uch a beautiful and crucial part of the storie s.Is pend a lot of this play being very tense and ver ywo rried and very stressed out so I treasure my little moments on stage with Mikey-slash-Ron .I t’s good to have those people in your life who, in the middle of the most intensely stressed out moments, can help you let it go.

MW: Sometimes milliseconds before walking onto stage, just little back pats or a little joke, they can be momentous moment s.B ecause the show is massive . As Gareth said, the play is very seriou s.A lot of the time it’s life and death situations. They’re in the depths of trauma. Those moments of light are so important.

GR: Mikey has a number of offstage characters that he plays as well who have nothing to do with the play itself, jus td reamed up backstage getting changed or in the hustle and bustle. There’s Grace and Paula and Murray and Justin . I’ ll be coming through in the wings and, who’s the guy that’s always checking the..?

MW: Oh, that ’sJ ustin. Yeah, he’s a handyman . He always checks things out and gives you quotes about renovations and how he could improve the theatre.

GR: I’ll often be walking past and Justin is measuring up a table.

MW: It’s to keep it fresh, and keep being creative and keep having fun .I t’s the lightness. I joined the play in

the second year. Gareth had already been going for a year when I took over the role of Ron .I came outside fr ommyfi rs t pe rformance and there’s a red carpet outside the theatre and bollard ss o fans couldn’t reach us, Is uppose .A nd we’d go along the line and sign autographs and people’s costume s. I twa s like a rock concert .I twa s like no stage performance I’ve ever been a par tof . That’s when it hit home how important this was to people, the stage play carrying on the stor yf rom the books and films. The responsibility, it’s huge.

We see a lot of people that have never been to the theatre before. What Harry Potter did for kids with books with reading. I feel like we’re doing for a lot of kids with theatre too. GARETH REEVES

GR: I agree, same for me, just meeting people outside the theatre always brings it home. They ar eg rateful and happy .I t follows that great tradition of Harry Potter stories of being life and death and apocalyptic stakes, but at the hear tofiti s friendship and love .B eing there for each other and everything’s going to work out .I t’s challenging too because I do talk to some people who are shocked at the way Harry behaves. Their beloved boy wizar di s abitofaje rk sometime s.H e’s not the greatest dad in the world, he’s learning, he makes mistakes and he’s a flawed grown up.

We see a lot of people who have never been to the theatre before. What Harry Potter did for kids with books with reading .I feel like we’re doing for a lot of kids with theatre too .P eople who love the films, read the books and have never been to a play. They always tell us ,“I can’t believe what you made out of suitcases!’’ Yeah, that’s theatre. Welcome!

[The New Zealanders in the cas t]a re a bit of a little gang. Waitangi D ayi s always a moment.

MW: We had a Matariki ceremony on the rooftop to watch the stars, open some kūmara, let the steam rise to the sky, sing waiata. Quite often we crack out a waiata fo rs pecial occasions, people’s birthdays or farewells. That connects u s.I t feels like we sor tofa re representing a special place and we notice that the Australian cast mate sr eally covet that and are envious of that connection we have to home.

GR: Sport too, over thes e la st few weeks we’ve had the T20 World Cup, the Rugby League World Cup, the Women’s Rugby World Cup, the All Blacks on tour in the northern hemisphere. We’ve been all over it.

MW: We watch them in between shows ,o r in between scene ss ometime s.H ave a phone on in a dressing room. We connected through sport, too, with playing with the North Shore Roar in 2010.

GR: We weren’ ttheg reatest players on that team. We wer e fa st and enthusiastic .B oth of us.

MW: I think that’s a good way to describe ou rs tyle.

The writer travelled to Melbourne courtesy of Michael Cassell Group.