Pictures: Tony Nyberg.
Kiwi actress Mirabai Pease has starred in everything from Head High to Evil Dead Rise, as well as doing the obligatory stints on Shortland Street and The Brokenwood Mysteries. But it’s her role in the Auckland Theatre Company’s production of Murder On The Orient Express that she says she was born to play.
“Thanks to my mum, who introduced me to Agatha Christie when I was seven, I’m a lifelong Agatha fan,” says the 27-year-old star, whose mum Tanya Meek is an English teacher.
“We watched David Suchet’s Poirot series together and all the Miss Marples. I’ve also read all the books, seen all the adaptations and have a whole bookcase of the novels!”
So it’s an understatement to say landing the role of Mary Debenham in Orient Express is a dream come true for Mirabai.
“When I auditioned, the director asked what I knew about Agatha Christie and I replied, ‘I know more than you!’” she laughs.
Beyond her passion for detective novels, Mirabai had an unorthodox upbringing.
“My parents are both very spiritual and met in India, and we bounced around Australia when I was young because Dad worked in film,” she explains.
“My parents wanted me to have an alternative education with lots of creativity, so I went to Sydney’s School of Philosophy, where we meditated at the start and end of each class. We also did a Shakespeare play each year, so I was studying The Tempest every day when I was six.”
Tanya moved her kids to Aotearoa when Mirabai was 12 and her sister Sylvie was eight.
“New Zealand wasn’t foreign to us because we had a house in Huia [on Auckland’s West Coast] that we came back to each summer,” says Mirabai.
Tanya, 63, explains, “Sydney is beautiful, but I wanted the girls to have a relationship with the land, to become fully grounded and rounded with a New Zealand education, because there’s something about being a Kiwi that we hold really close to our hearts.”
At Auckland’s Marist College, Mirabai quickly found her best friend and now-flatmate Hannah Brown, 27. The star recalls, “She’d just moved from England and we bonded immediately – Hannah with her funny British accent and me with my Aussie twang.
“We even made a version of Scream 5. I starred in it, while Hannah wrote, directed and produced. We forced all our friends to make it with us over a weekend.”
In their final year at school, the pair were chosen to perform at London’s Globe Theatre. Hannah says, “It was mind-blowing, as 18-year-olds, to immerse ourselves in that world with all those professional actors surrounding us. It made us realise we could do it too.”
Today the friends’ careers are going from strength to strength, with Hannah having written the RNZ web series Here If You Need, which Mirabai made the costumes for, despite working every night as an actress on Evil Dead Rise. As a thank you, when the horror film came out, Hannah hired a whole cinema so all their mates could watch.
Tanya smiles, “I don’t want to be that mother who thinks her daughter is amazing, but Mirabai really shines. When she and Hannah met, it was like combustion. The two of them made films with little Sylvie running after them – and now Sylvie’s also a talented actor and musician.
“We were this little community surrounded by women who all looked after each other. We celebrated each other’s ups and commiserated the downs, and now all three have taken flight.”
Hannah adds, “I believe in Mirabai completely and I know she believes in me. A creative career can be challenging, but when your best friend has similar dreams and faces similar struggles, everything is achievable.”
Smiles Mirabai, “We’re so lucky to have each other,” adding she can’t wait to have her three biggest fans – her mother, sister and best friend – all in the audience for opening night of Orient Express.
Murder On The Orient Express opens Tuesday 22 April at Auckland’s ASB Waterfront Theatre. For tickets, visit atc.co.nz.
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