The not-so-good life:
Fresh Eggs, a black comedy about a city couple who move to the country, starts on TVNZ 2 this week. The lead characters talk to Sarah Nealon about the show.
Australia’s new black comedy about country living.
Swapping hectic city living for a peaceful rural existence is something many urban dwellers have probably considered. But is the good life all it’s cracked up to be?
Not for Wade and Penny in Fresh Eggs, a new local series about a married couple who say goodbye to the big smoke when they relocate to the country.
“Penny and Wade are very boring and nice Aucklanders,” says Claire Chitham, who plays Penny. “Wade works in human resources and Penny is a book editor.”
Chitham says the couple are high school sweethearts, “Who have never done anything remotely interesting in their lives ever. They’ve never challenged themselves.”
Penny and Wade, who is played by Cohen Holloway, are on their way to a wedding when Wade confesses he has just lost his job. They stop for ice cream and see a real estate sign for what they think is the house of their dreams.
“I think for them, in their world,” says Chitham, “they are looking through the rose-tinted window saying, ‘Country life looks idyllic and this house looks idyllic’.
“They think – as many a city dweller thinks – wouldn’t it be amazing, wouldn’t it be everybody’s dream to have the little lifestyle property, a block of land somewhere to grow your own veges and have your own chickens and never be hurt by the challenges of life in the city? That is the dream that they see and that’s what they go for.”
However, country living takes a sinister turn when Penny and Wade become embroiled in the aftermath of a fatal accident.
Set in the fictional town of Alberton, Fresh Eggs also stars Danielle Cormack and Dave Fane, who appear as a married couple and career criminals. Other actors in the series are John Rhys Davies (Gimli in Lord Of The Rings), Fasitua Amosa (Auckland Daze) and Bree Peters (Shortland Street).
For Chitham, the show marks
a return to local television – at least in front of the camera – after a stint in Los Angeles. She has been back in New Zealand for a few years.
“When I got home I was very tired of the LA hustle as they call it, which is playing the actor game of auditioning,” she says.
“It’s a town full of possibilities. The possibilities are very real and they can happen anywhere and at any time. So your energy is constantly spent.
“Even if you get invited to a barbecue you think, ‘I should probably go because I might meet someone’ because you genuinely will meet someone who is making something and you might be able to help them make it.
“But that hustle for work and making those connections does get really tiring. So I came home and ended up getting a couple of jobs on the other side of the camera to sort of fill some time while I was back here and that actually led to more opportunities on that side of the camera, which I’ve been doing.”
Chitham is best known for playing the earnest Waverley in Shortland Street. She joined the soap at age 16 and the role made her a household name. However, Cohen Holloway, her Fresh Eggs co-star, is all too aware of the downsides of appearing on a weeknightly soap, particularly if you are playing a villain. “Bree Peters (who played Shorty Street’s evil Pania) is in Fresh Eggs,” says Holloway. “I’ve worked with her on a couple of projects and she got so much grief at supermarkets and stuff.” Holloway says for two years in a row he was asked to play the part of a Shortland Street ‘baddie’ but turned down both opportunities. He recently said no to a film role, too. He once harboured dreams of becoming a rock star and spent six years working in a bank after leaving high school before pursuing acting. His long list of acting credits includes Hunt For The Wilderpeople, Find Me A M ori Bride, Top Of The Lake and Wellington Paranormal. Home for Holloway is on the Kapiti Coast where he lives with his partner and their two children, aged nine and six. “Anything that’s in Wellington I’m generally in and anything that’s in Auckland I’m down to the wire and they go, ‘We’ve got to fly him up, put him up, feed him’,” says Holloway. Holloway recalls the advice his actor uncle Jim Moriarty (Close To Home) imparted years ago when Holloway was thinking about quitting his bank job. “He said, ‘There is no money in acting. Go and stay in the bank’.”