They were carefree young women when they first found fame on some of our most loved local TV shows, but today actresses Bronwyn Turei, Amber Curreen and Marianne Infante are all navigating motherhood together.
And in a break from working on their new play Wet, as they pose for our Woman’s Day photoshoot at West Auckland’s Te Pou Theatre, their tamariki are close at hand. Amber’s daughter Mia was just a baby when she appeared on Shortland Street alongside her mum, who played teen mother Shannon Te Ngaru on the hit soap for five years. As Amber, 40, sits in the makeup chair, Mia watches an old clip from the soap on her phone.
“I’ve never seen you on an episode before,” exclaims psychology student Mia, 20.
“Look how tiny you were! Were you the same age as I am now?” Play director Amber nods in confirmation. Meanwhile, Go Girls actress Bronwyn – who plays Wet’s lead character Aroha – watches her daughter Tiakiwai, four, twirl around the room. She’s practically grown up in theatres, says the star, 42, whose partner Manny is also an actor, dancer and choreographer.
“She knows this place really well,” she shares.
“She’s even had her naps in the office.”
Back to the stage
Marianne, who played nurse Madonna Diaz on Shorty until last year, is making a comeback to theatre as producer of the show 12 months after the birth of her first child Emilia.
“I’m loving being in the same room with Bronwyn and Amber, as well as having the different perspectives of motherhood,” says Marianne, 30, who is newly engaged to Emilia’s dad Daryll.
It’s 17 years since Bronwyn made her first foray on a TV set as tomboy Cody Latimer in Go Girls and she recalls struggling to grasp her instant fame.
Frame, friendship & foundations
“I had a disassociation with Cody, so I was shocked when people recognised me in the street,” she explains.
“But I had such a cool group of good friends who kept things very normal and real. I also made such great friendships on the show and today those people are some of my best friends too. We’re all mums now.”
It was a huge stepping stone for the girl from Gisborne, whose passion has always been theatre.
“Go Girls taught me foundational stuff I use to this day,” smiles Brownyn.
“It was the best time.”
Stepping into aroha
Bronwyn finds playing Wet’s Aroha – a mum, divorcée, loyal friend and undercover author of erotic fiction – equally thrilling and intimidating.
“I learn so much leaning into being uncomfortable.”
She hopes the play will help dispel the myth women are “no longer sexual beings” in their forties.
“There’s so much richness in the storytelling of women moving into this decade,” she declares.
“Heaven forbid you talk about sex! There’s lots of fearmongering that your life’s finished, so we’re rewriting that.”
Power, positivity & raising the next generation
Female empowerment is something Bronwyn, who’s of Ngāti Porou descent, works on every day, both on stage and as a role model for Tiakiwai.
“The hope is everything she tells herself will be powerful and self-assured,” she says.
“Growing up as a teenager in the ’90s, my body positivity was at an all-time low. “I’m undoing a lot of that and walking into this new period of my life giving fewer fudges, paving the way for my daughter to also hold that same inner power.”
Wearing her director’s hat, Amber sees Wet as an opportunity to celebrate “the erotic within whāine and women stepping into their power”. The play resonates deeply with her, reflecting times in her own life when she felt unable to speak freely.
Modelling strength at home
It’s also important to Amber that she’s a role model to both her daughter and her son, Te Rongopai, 13.
Amber says, “Mia will be 21 soon, so I’m trying to model strength of conviction for her and the confidence to find a relationship that’s right.”
As a co-founder of Te Pou Theatre, Amber – who has Ngāpuhi and Te Roroa heritage – values surrounding herself with other artist parents.
“Everything works better when we live life with our kids alongside us,” shares Amber, whose partner Rei Samuel is venue manager at the theatre.
“We have a crèche upstairs and we just assume our babies will be around while we work.”
Growing up on Shorty
That approach to motherhood and mahi has been with Amber from the start. Mia became part of Shorty storylines when Amber’s pregnancy, at 19, was written into the script. Playing out her character Shannon’s teen pregnancy loss on screen shaped her decision to become a mum at a young age.
“I now realise just how much my time on Shorty had an impact on every part of my life,” admits Amber, who started on the soap at 16.
“It affirmed a few things about my identity. I was a performer before I was on the show, but I wanted to be a dancer, not an actor. “It also affirmed my identity as Māori. I was brought up with a Māori dad and a Pākehā mother, but Mum pushed me to be part of the bilingual unit and do kapa haka at school.”
While Amber and Bronwyn show that the juggling act is possible, Marianne’s still learning the ropes. Her new smartwatch, to help her manage her time, reveals she’s surviving on just three hours of sleep a night.
Sleepless but inspired
“My baby wakes every hour!” she sighs.
But Marianne loves combining her two careers.
“There’s something special about taking the time away to be a ma¯ma¯, but coming back into this kaupapa’s been lovely to feel empowered again.”
Rediscovering herself
Soon after Emilia was born, though, the actress struggled with “not knowing who I was”.
She explains, “I discovered I needed to go back to work and there was a lot of guilt around that. But the most beautiful thing about this play is all the nuances and conversations around what it means to be a modern mum who chooses to love and respect herself. “I was writing poems while I was breastfeeding and at 3am, I was on social media chatting to other wonderful new mums across the world. I needed a creative outlet and this show is really fulfilling that.”
A beautiful yes
On the day of our shoot, Emilia’s at home with a cold and Marianne’s fiancé Daryll is looking after her. Of accepting his proposal on an Auckland beach earlier this month, the star says, “It was the easiest and happiest yes of my life.”
Wet is Marianne’s first producing role since stepping away from theatre five years ago to play Shorty’s first Filipino nurse Madonna.
Marianne says, “This play is funny, spicy, sexy and hilarious. But it’s also really grounded in a lot of love and that maternal conversation I’m still so new to. “I’m looking at everything through a new lens.”
Wet opens Friday 6 March at Auckland’s Te Pou Theatre. For tickets, visit tepoutheatre.nz.
