Mune says hello to theatre again

Here’s a little-known fact about actor and screen legend Ian Mune: he once lived on a 20ha farm with his wife, five cats, three dogs, 20 cows and 400 angora goats. It means he has considerable affinity for animals, perhaps a help in his latest role, which sees him on stage with a giant cat.

Although a regular on stage and screen, it’s been 17 years since Mune had a lead in a locally written play. Right now, he’s enjoying seeing a new generation lapping up the reboot of 1981’s Goodbye Pork Pie, a film he cowrote with director Geoff Murphy.

“Geoff called me up and said there was a young director interested in remaking it; I said it was bloody ridiculous and he should do all he could to discourage him. Then he told me it was his son, Matt, and the only way he could do it was to buy the rights off us. I said, ‘in that case, do all you can to encourage him’.”

He says Murphy should be very proud of Matt’s achievement.

But away from fast cars and the big screen, Mune is now rehearsing Spirit House. He plays one of two artists working in a studio in Nong Khai, Thailand. His character lives there in 1932; the second artist (Tim Carlsen) in 2017 but the same mysterious woman (Mia Blake) visits both. The otherworldly proceedings are watched over by a 1.8m cat that doesn’t speak but makes his feelings obvious.

Mune’s first professional theatre role was in 1964 in the extremely English play Lady Audley’s Secret; ask if he could have imagined being on stage with an actor (Min Kim) dressed