Dame Miranda Harcourt and Stuart McKenzie are now officially empty nesters. Their children have all left Wellington and are busy with their careers, and even Miranda’s 99-year-old mother, Dame Kate Harcourt, has moved out of her apartment downstairs and into a nearby rest home where she is thriving.
That means the former Gloss actress and her playwright/director husband are now free to do what they love – travelling and working together.
The pair has been collaborating on drama projects for decades now and, while they have different working styles, they reckon that teaming up professionally strengthens their relationship.
“When you’re leading a creative life, money can be tight, so at the beginning of our career, it made sense to keep things in the family rather than farm them out to another actor or writer,” explains Stuart.
“And we loved it. Some of the great moments of our life have been going on tour together. “When we had kids, we took them with us and it was like a travelling circus. That fit with our personalities and our sense of adventure. Working together is also a way of keeping things interesting and invigorated, and seeing someone in a new light.”
Miranda adds, “It’s very good for our marriage because we’re constantly bumping against each other. There’s not a week in our lives that’s been the same as any other week and I think that’s been very good for our children too, especially with the challenges facing young people today, as they’ve grown up in a household where people shift and change with ease.”
How Stuart and Miranda first met
The couple first met, aged 18, on their first day at the University of Canterbury. Miranda was fresh off the plane and trundling her suitcase across the courtyard when Stuart asked if she needed help. They started chatting and ended up going to Cathedral Square to have their ears pierced, though they only had enough cash for one lobe each.
Before too long, Miranda dropped out of university and Stuart went travelling in South East Asia. They didn’t meet again until they bumped into each other at a party in Auckland.
Thirty-five years ago, they were married at St Peter’s Church in Wellington by Stuart’s father, who was an Anglican minister.
Faith and spirituality have always been important to Stuart, 63, who considered becoming a minister himself as a younger man. Miranda, meanwhile, describes herself as more of an atheist. While that doesn’t cause conflict in their personal life, it has created fertile ground for their latest project, a play called After God, written by Stuart, directed by him and Miranda, and starring Michael Hurst.
A family of rising stars
A funny, thought-provoking piece, it explores the meaning of life and is based on interviews Stuart conducted over the past few years while travelling the world with Miranda, 63, as she works as an acting coach on international movie sets.
Miranda tells, “We were in Massachusetts, then I was on a film starring Brad Pitt in Hydra, Greece, and I had four months working on a Tom Hiddleston film in Nepal. Meanwhile, Stuart spent hours and hours conducting these really fascinating religious interviews.”
He says, “I’m a lucky hitchhiker going along as part of Miranda’s baggage and making the most of it.”
Two of the couple’s children are now successful actresses. Thomasin, 26, is in Los Angeles working on the TV series Fallout. Davida, 19, is acting and modelling in Sydney, and recently appeared in the horror film Leviticus. Brother Peter, 27, is also in Sydney, where he’s a correspondent for the international news agency Reuters. And Stuart’s older daughter, Sara, 41, is in Christchurch running successful pre-loved fashion business Secret Threads.
Still working side by side
That makes for a quieter life in Wellington, but the couple is busy with future film and theatre projects. Miranda has no plans to take starring roles in any of them, partly because she doesn’t miss the stage fright she used to suffer from.
“I closed the door on acting to be a fully-committed parent,” she says.
“I wasn’t the kind of actor who could walk away from a performance and be a great mum.”
“It was so all-consuming that she was difficult to be around,” agrees Stuart. “She would be possessed by the character and it was hard to find Miranda, which was disconcerting.”
Being an acting coach involves all the things she loves most about the business, and next it is likely to take them both to Portugal once After God has finished its run.
“We work hard,” says Stuart. “But we feel very lucky to have this life and be able to keep working together.”
After God is on at Wellington’s Circa Theatre from October 17 to November 14. For tickets, see circa.co.nz.
