Youth adds new blood to Cain and Abel tale
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5:00AM
Thursday April 03, 2008
By Dionne Christian
Ashley Hawkes (left), Nicolas Kyle (right), Ray Woolf and Annie Whittle (rear) and director Jesse Peach (front). Photo / Dean Purcell
Theatre director Jesse Peach and actors Ashley Hawkes and Nicolas Kyle swing into the carpark of Glen Eden's Playhouse Theatre in a slightly worn silver Toyota Corona.
All lithe limbs, summer tans and nonchalant style, they look as if they have been surfing, or jamming in a mate's garage.
They have, however, been donating blood as part of a promotion for the musical Blood Brothers.
Hawkes prods at the spot in his arm where the needle went in.
"You know, they asked me if I had ever injected myself with drugs," he says somewhat incredulously, "and I was like, 'No way man'."
Hawkes' laidback, slightly rock star appearance is deceptive, says 24-year-old Peach. He enjoys working with the country-boy from Matata in the Bay of Plenty because Hawkes is "focused, committed and damned hard-working".
After all, how many actors would literally give blood for a play? Blood Brothers is the fourth show - but the first musical - Peach has directed through his eponymously named Peach Productions theatre company, and the fourth time he and Hawkes have collaborated.
