CENTRE STAGE

We go behind the scenes to explore an Auckland villa that's home to two power players in New Zealand theatre

- Fiona Barber

If Jennifer Ward-Lealand and Michael Hurst's Auckland property was a play, it would entail many acts. Included would be more than two decades' worth of multi-generational living, spectacular parties and celebrations of significant milestones. The storyline would also have to feature special beginnings the couple's two sons, now young adults, were both born here.

For 26 years, the circa-1900 three-bedroom villa in Auckland's Westmere has remained the couple's constant while their family has grown and their award-winning acting, singing and directing careers have taken them from stage classics to screen hits and everything in between. They haven't acted together in the same production in 16 years, but later this year they will both perform in King Lear as part of the Auckland Theatre Company's 30th anniversary season. Michael, an ONZM and New Zealand Arts Laureate, will play the title role and co-direct the Shakespearean play, while Jennifer - ONZM, CNZM, 2020 New Zealander of the Year and recipient of the title Te Atamira (The Stage) for championing te reo - will play Kent, a male role.

Your Home and Garden caught up with the pair at their long-time family home, a treasure-filled haven that's also a rehearsal studio, meeting space, office and more. If ever a house beautifully blurred the lines between private and professional life, this is it.

Opening act

In early 1997, Jennifer and Michael were living in the central-city suburb of Grey Lynn - a place they loved for its local parks, creek and proximity to primary schools when they spied the villa. Back then, the two-storey timber home with dormer windows was an island in a sea of grass, devoid of the hedge, gardens and trees that now embrace it.