You Ask… Mavournee Hazel (Piper)
Piper is flying solo for the first time in ages on screen – and her real-life alter ego Mavournee is pleased about that, as she deals with your pressing queries…
“How do you feel about the end of Typer [aka Tyler and Piper]?”
I’m as devastated as the fans, even though I knew it was coming. I did a few tweets and an Instagram post mentioning that when Travis and I were told the outcome, we were so upset. It’s the end of an era for us on a personal level. But I was also a little bit excited for the audience to see Piper
without Tyler, because we haven’t really had that.
“What will you miss most about working with Travis Burns [Tyler]?”
So many things! I feel like I almost took him for granted. I was on set with Bec [Rebekah Elmaloglou, aka Terese] one day, and it was really hot. Stefan Dennis [Paul] came into the studio and said to
Bec, “Your car’s parked right in the sun. Give me your keys and I’ll move it for you.” And I was just like, I haven’t got that person any more. Travis was my buddy.
“You’ve had a lot of emotional stories. Do you find it easy to cry?”
That’s a great question. I’ve never struggled with it, and I think that’s why I’ve been given these storylines. I’m a very sensitive, emotional person, so it doesn’t take a lot to tip me over. It also helps that in the plots where I’ve had to be emotional, I’ve worked with people I genuinely love and feel safe around, so I feed off them. It’s a joke in the green room at work: “Oh, Mav’s crying again!”
“Would you like to see the writers explore Piper’s bisexuality?”
Yeah! When I first started on the show, I thought that was something my character was going to explore straight away. And I was excited to portray it – because for our audience, we do have younger people who are unsure and don’t want to put themselves into a box or slap on a label. That said, I really want Piper to be single for a bit and to be her own person.
“If you could play another alternate universe spin-off like the time-travel one [Neighbours Vs Time Travel, which went out online last year], what type of character would you like Piper to be?”
“Is your sister Chyna an actress as well?”
It was fun to play a mini-terese, and Piper had a girlfriend in it, so it was completely different. I’m an active person – I used to play lacrosse – but the other day I realised Piper doesn’t have a pair of sneakers, and we’ve never, ever seen her play a sport or mention exercise. So I don’t know, maybe it would be different if she was a bit sporty.
“I love the Insta-stories you do with your sister Chyna. Is she an actress too, and will we be seeing her in anything?”
Chyna was blessed with the ability to sing and dance as well, which I was not. I dance like a spider! But Chyna is more into performing arts, so musical theatre is where she wants to be. You might not see her on screen, but hopefully one day you’ll see her on the stage. It would be great to have her on Neighbours, though. They’ve hinted at Xanthe having a sister, Jessie, so there we go – Chyna could play her!
“Who is someone who’s really helped you with your work?”
Scott Major [who played Lucas Fitzgerald] is now a director and one of my favourites, purely because he knows how to talk to actors. He makes everything personal, and talks to me as if Piper is me and I am Piper. And Eve Morey [Sonya] has helped me to switch off from work. She’s had some very emotionally draining storylines too, and we’re very similar in our acting styles and approaches. So I’m kind of working with her a lot to learn how to not take the job home, and to not let the line between Piper and Mavournee be blurred.
“I saw pictures of you at Travis Burns’ wedding [in December last year]. What was his big day like?”
It was such a beautiful day – it was Alan Fletcher [Karl], Matt Wilson [Aaron], Lilly Van der Meer [Xanthe] and me, and we all felt so lucky to be a part of it. The bride, Emma looked so beautiful… but the biggest shock was Travis’ hair! He got out of the car, and Matt said to me, “Mav, Mav, turn around”. He’d cut all of his hair off! I couldn’t believe it. No one knew he was going to do it. He didn’t really know he was going to do it until two days before the wedding.
“Who’s the biggest joker on set?”
Scott Mcgregor [aka Mark]! He’s just a prankster. When the studios are dark, he likes to hide and jump out to scare people. And he loves stirring the pot – he says the stuff that everyone’s thinking. He’s like a little boy in a dad’s body – his favourite movie is Finding Nemo! He’s so unlike his character. When I first started, someone asked me who was the least like his character, and I had to say Scott.
“What was Travis Burns’ wedding like?”