Other



Review Excerpt

Peter and the Wolf (2009)  "Michael Hurst certainly relished his role as narrator, so much so it felt as though he was consciously restraining himself from prowling about the stage acting out each part.  . . . it would have been nice to see the orchestra . . . perform with some of Hurst's sense of fun ". (Metro)

 
2022

Guest, Hollywood Experience podcast (February 2022; listen here, from 9 min)

Judge, Showquest OnScreen short film competition (January)

   
2021

Guest tutor, Tim Bray Theatre Company's Performance Drama Class (11 & 18 March)

   
2020

Interviewee, The Estradiol Illusions Podcast (24 September; listen here).

Interviewee, The Reading Room (12 September; watch here).

   
2019

Director and performer (playing Hempelman, Captain Lavaud, and Queen Victoria) in The Landing, Akaroa French Fest (12 October)

Tutor on Shakespeare for The Actors' Program (3-14 June)

   
2018

Guest performer, "Club Mystique III" fundraiser for New Zealand Dance Company (11 November)

Interviewee, Jassy Dean Trust Fundraising Dinner (15 September)

Performer, "Here Comes the Sun", Cafe One2One (24 July)

Guest speaker, "Rehearsing and Performing An Iliad in Dunedin", at GAPS ARTS (20 May)

   
2017

Creator, director, and guest performer, "Club Mystique II" fundraiser for New Zealand Dance Company (4 December)

Inteviewee and guest performer, Garnet Station 10th Birthday Variety Show, Tiny Theatre (17 November)

Director and performer (playing Hempelman, Captain Lavaud, and Queen Victoria) in The Landing, Akaroa French Fest (7 October)

Performer in Dean Parker's Bloomsday, The Thirsty Dog (16 June)

Guest speaker for The Actors' Program (7 June)

Speaker, Massey University, "Classics on Stage and Screen: A conversation with actor, director and playwright Michael Hurst" (4 April)

Guest performer at "Actors' Benevolent Fund Afternoon Gala" (2 April)

   
2016

Creator, director, and guest performer, "Club Mystique" fundraiser for New Zealand Dance Company (1 December)

Guest performer at "The Republic of Waiheke Royal Command Performance", Rocky Bay Hall (26 November)

Guest speaker, "Hurst All About Hamlet", at GAPS ARTS (30 October)

Guest performer at Dragons: Cabtastical, The Basement (1 October)

Interviewee, RadioNZ, talking about his training at Theatre Corporate (23 June; click here to listen online)

Performer in Dean Parker's Bloomsday, The Thirsty Dog (16 June)

Speaker, "Shakespeare – His Relevancy & Power", Circa Theatre (1 May)

   
2015

Voice of Emperor Izaro in Path of Exile (video game)

Guest performer (poetry recitation and Drunk Irish Priest) at Tiny Theatre (2 September)

Inteviewee, Verity George Variety Show, Tiny Theatre, Garnet Station (14 August)

Tutor on Homer for The Actors' Program (10-13 August)

Panelist for NZ Actors' Equity Green Room: Sex & Nudity on Stage and Screen: What is Right and How to Empower Yourself (31 May)

Wifrid Noyce in Nepal Memories fundraiser for Himalayan Trust's Rebuild Appeal (reading; 17 May)

In conversation with Alan Cumming, Auckland Writers' Festival (15 May)

Celebrity guest, Oz Comic-Con, Adelaide, South Australia (18-19 April)
Video of the Hercules panel is available for download here.

Celebrity guest, Oz Comic-Con, Perth, Western Australia (11-12 April) 
Video of the Hercules panel is available for download here.

Celebrity guest, Creation Entertainment Xena convention, Burbank, California (21 February)

   
2014

Portraying NZ Prime Minister John Key in a series of short interviews in the lead-up to the 2014 election (September):

 

Guest performer, Seating You fundraiser for Circa Theatre (31 August)

Performer in Dean Parker's Bloomsday, The Thirsty Dog (16 June)

Guest artist, Rose Charities Fundraiser, Morra Hall, Waiheke (24 May)

Host, Art of Fashion Gala at Erupt! Lake Taupo Festival (9 May)

Poetry reciter, Auckland Central City Library event Swept Away by the Romantics (30 April)

Guest speaker, Creative Mornings/Auckland (11 April; watch online)

Celebrity guest, Creation Entertainment Xena convention, Burbank, California (8 February)

   
2013

Host, Silo Theatre 2014 Season Launch (20 November)

Reader, Charlotte Grimshaw's The Night Book for Radio NZ (November).

Guest artist, NZ Labour Party Spring Dinner and Auction (21 September)

Guest speaker, Auckland Executive Club Meeting at Parnell on the Roses (17 July)

Tutor on Shakespeare for The Actors' Program (1-11 July)

Panelist, Open Dialogue discussion on "Making It Up, Fucking It Up, and Everything in Between," Q Theatre/Loft (10 July)

Guest speaker, The Director's Story, part of Media Studies Stories, presented by Screen Directors' Guild of New Zealand at Raye Freedman Centre (10 July)

Panelist for NZ Actors' Equity Green Room: How to Do Your Best Audition (30 May)

Guest tutor on Othello, Rutherford College (25 June)

Performer in Dean Parker's Bloomsday, The Thirsty Dog (16 June)

First reader of Ulysses for the James Joyce Centre's inaugural Global Bloomsday Gathering (16 June)

In conversation with SCGNZ Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival students at Downstage Theatre (31 May)

Celebrity guest, "Up Close with Michael Hurst" fundraiser for Downstage Theatre (26 May)

Panelist for NZ Actors' Equity Green Room: "How to Make Money from Your Own Productions" (12 May)

Judge for Auckland North Regional competition of SCGNZ Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival (12-13 April)

Facilitator for King Lear director Lisa Harrow's lecture "Working on Lear," AUSA Summer Shakespeare (4 March)

Speaker, Review Revue With Pride, Auckland Library (27 February)

Storyteller, Summer Noelle, Radio New Zealand National (for True Stories Told Live; 18 January)

Interviewee, Summer Noelle, Radio New Zealand National (on Songs I Could Listen to Again and Again; 11 January)

   
2012

Performer and celebrity auctioneer, Anthea Freya Hill's fundraiser to attend The Actors' Program, TAPAC (29 November 2012)

Celebrity debater, Moneyweek Debate, Ostend Markets, Waiheke (moot: "Money is the barometer of a society's virtue"; 8 September)

Speaker at Actors' Equity Graduate Day (18 August)

Tutor on Shakespeare for The Actors' Program (6-16 August)

Tutor for Twelfth Night workshop, Rutherford College (27 March)

Interviewer, Art Talk at NZ International Arts Festival (interviewing Beautiful Burnout creative team, 8 March)

Interviewee, Sunday Morning, Radio New Zealand National (on Frequently Asked Questions; 19 February)

Guest performer with Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra
Q Theatre (15 February)

Celebrity guest and cabaret guest artist, Creation Entertainment Xena convention, Burbank, California (27-29 January)

2011

Story teller at True Stories Out Loud, Basement Fest (15 October)

Guest lecturer on Macbeth, University of Auckland (13 October)

Speaker for 'Sundays at Four' speaker series at Victoria Picture Palace and Theatre (Devonport): "Remarks on Theatre: A Personal View" (4 September)

Panelist, Open Dialogue discussion on "The Art of Adaptation", Blues Bar, The Edge (30 August)

Tutor for As You Like It workshop, Howick Little Theatre

Unofficial judge (with book club) of NZ Book Awards for Listener in article "A Book Club Decides"

Celebrity guest, Creation Entertainment Xena convention, Los Angeles, California

Tutor for Auckland Theatre Company Summer School (13 January)

   
2010

Award presenter and interviewer at NZ Arts Foundation New Generation Award ceremony for recipients Mark Albiston and Louis Sutherland, directors of The Six Dollar Fifty Man (14 December)

Guest speaker (on absurdism), Western Springs College (19 November)

Guest speaker (on Othello), year 13 students, Western Springs College (11 November)

Guest presenter, Walters Prize tour, Auckland Art Gallery (26 September)

Story teller at True Stories Told Live, NZ Book Council (5 September)

Seeded interview on bNet (31 July; listen here)

Documentary narration, Hidden Apartheid; director: Mandrika Rupa

Guest speaker (on Othello), year 13 students, Western Springs College (23 April)

Guest speaker (on Shakespeare), Ponsonby Probus Club (20 April)

   
2009

Guest performer, Sexy Recession Cabaret, TAPAC (13, 14, 18 December)

Guest speaker, Pt. Chevalier Probus Club (13 December)

Guest commentator on The Panel, Radio New Zealand National (6 March, 8 May, 11 September, 16 November)

Actor, Silo Theatre 2010 Season Launch, ASB Theatre (11 November)

Celebrity reader at the launch of Jill Marshall's books Doghead and Kave Tina Rox at Auckland War Memorial Museum (1 November)

Guest commentator on The Panel, Radio New Zealand National (September)

Celebrity presenter, Qantas Film and Television Awards 2009 (6 September)

Guest performer, Epsom Girls Grammar School Gala Auction (21 August)

Celebrity reader, Reading with the Stars, Celebrity Storytime, Epsom Community Library (25 July)

Host and guest artist, Sassy Songs and Sexy Shakespeare (benefit for Globe fellow Sylvia Rands), The Basement (19 July)

Guest commentator on The Panel, Radio New Zealand National (6 March, 8 May, September, 16 November)

Discussant on "Appointment" on Radio New Zealand Concert (on Shakespeare's sonnets; 29 April)

Reader for Shakespeare's Birthday celebration, Auckland City Library

Reader of short story "Parallel Universe" from the Charlotte Grimshaw collection Opportunity, Radio New Zealand National

Celebrity guest, Armageddon Expo, Wellington

Celebrity guest, Armageddon Expo, Christchurch

Interviewer of actors Melissa Madden Grey and Susan Prior, stars of Venus and Adonis, for AK09's "In Conversation" program

Narrator of Peter and the Wolf for New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, AK09

Celebrity guest and cabaret guest artist, Creation Entertainment Xena convention, Los Angeles, California

Book review, Ever, Dirk: The Bogarde Letters, published in New Zealand Herald (19 January)

   
2008

Guest reviewer of Steven Berkoff's One Man, on The Arts on Sunday, Radio New Zealand National (19 October)

Narrator of documentary film The New Dance Group; Shirley Horrocks, director

Cabaret performer (with Jennifer Ward-Lealand) in "A Night in Berlin," to benefit Waiheke Art Gallery (25 July)

Guest speaker at conference Navigating the Textual Sea, New Zealand Association for the Teaching of English (10 July)

Host, New Zealand Institute of Architects 2008 Awards for Architecture Gala Dinner (24 May)

Guest reviewer of One Man Star Wars Trilogy, The Arts on Sunday, Radio New Zealand National (11 May)

Celebrity guest, Creation Entertainment Grand Slam convention, Burbank, California

Guest commentator on The Panel, Radio New Zealand National (6 March, 8 May)

Guest performer, Celebrity Talent Quest, Silo Theatre (11 January)

Guest tutor for masterclass, Centre City Music Theatre 2008 Summer School (8 January)

 

 

2007

Celebrity guest, "Eight Months to Mars", Afternoons, Radio New Zealand National (26 November)

Workshop in conjunction with exhibition "Making Worlds", Auckland Art Gallery

Celebrity guest for Celebrity Times of Their Life presented by the Con Artists improv group

Celebrity debater, The Great Project K Celebrity Debate 2007, in Auckland and Wellington (moot: "That We Need More Women on Top")

Guest speaker, Aorangi Club; "Remarks on Theatre"

Guest reviewer of Roger Hall's Who Wants to be 100, Radio New Zealand National (10 June)

Interviewed composer, producer, creator of Music-Theatre Heiner Goebbels for AK07's AK in Conversation series

Celebrity guest and cabaret guest artist in "An Evening with Michael Hurst and Jennifer Ward-Lealand", Creation Entertainment Xena convention, Burbank, California

   
2006

Reciter Mozart's letters in Boy Wonder with Viva Voce Chamber Choir

Hosted Q Theatre brand launch event (watch excerpt here)

Performed in Oxford and Chambers on Wine, Walker & Hall Waiheke Art Award Members Gala Preview Event, Waiheke Art Gallery

Speaker at University of Auckland Blues Awards dinner (29 September)

Lecturer, "Inventing Shakespeare," University of Auckland Faculty of Arts Shakespeare in Winter lecture series

Speaker, "Celebrating Twelfth Night" symposium, University of Auckland English Department

Poetry reciter, The Depot Artspace, Devonport

Auctioneer for fundraiser to help send My Brother and I are Porn Stars to Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Guest artist, Auckland On-Stage Exhibition Launch Programme, Auckland City Libraries

Celebrity debater, Epsom Girl's Grammar School Celebrity Debate (moot:  "That We've Lost the Plot")

Guest commentator on The Panel, Radio New Zealand National
 (15 May, 26 June, 27 November)

Interviewer, Directing Your First Feature: An Evening with Chris Graham, Screen Directors Guild of New Zealand (17 May)

Presented "Remarks Concerning Theatre" to Probis and U3A groups

Co-host, Schwarzkopf Professional Awards Gala

MC for Margaret Mahy's 70th Birthday Gala Dinner

Performer, "Four Dramatic Poems with Improvised Music", Cafe One2One

Celebrity guest and cabaret guest artist, Creation Entertainment Xena convention, Burbank, California

   
2005

Created and performed a performance piece for the launch event of the New Theatre Initiative

Poetry recitation, The Poem and the Partsong with Viva Voce Chamber Choir

Guest reviewer Moana and the Tribe, Radio New Zealand National (9 August)

Poetry recitation, Auckland Art Gallery, In Response to "A Tale to Tell: Victorian Narrative Painting"

Guest reviewer of J Borgeson, A Long, and D Singer's The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged, Radio New Zealand National (12 May)

Guest reviewer of Something Dark, Radio New Zealand National (6 April)

Performer, AK05 Opening Celebration

MC for Thrive Waikato

Speaker at Screen Canterbury AGM

   
2004

MC (as The Widow Twanky) for AK05 kick-off

Guest artist, Christmas in the Park

Guest artist, Love Matiatia Concert

Book review, Gielgud's Letters, published in Sunday Star-Times

Celebrity debater, Epsom Girl’s Grammar School Celebrity Debate (moot: "That She’ll be Right")

   
2003

Recitation of Kubla Kahn for the Ellerslie Flower Show (26-30 November)

Guest reviewer of Ladies Night, Radio New Zealand National (11 November)

Taught Kids Workshop for the Auckland Art Gallery

Poetry recitation of E.E. Cummings Epithalamion with musical accompaniment at Soundscapes event (26 October)

Celebrity guest, cabaret guest artist, and recipient of Award for Best Guest Appearance, Cult TV Festival, Weston-Super-Mare, UK (9-11 October)

MC for the opening of the exhibition Suspended: Six Glass Artists (30 September)

Read excerpts from Pam Gem's play Stanley, based on a book of letters of British artist Stanley Spencer.  At Auckland Art Gallery (10 August)

MC for Waitemata District Health Board Clinical Achievement Awards (8 August)

Read excerpts from Ulysses at the Atomic Cafe on Bloomsday (16 June)

Celebrity guest, Best of Both Worlds convention, Canberra, Australia (19-20 April)

Guest reviewer of Amadeus, Radio New Zealand National (3 March)

Guest reviewer of Blasted, Radio New Zealand National (27 February)

Panelist, Auckland Writers and Readers Festival (17 May)

MC for New Zealand Leadership Forum dinner

   
2002

Celebrity guest and performer in Love Letters, Creation Entertainment Xena convention, Pasadena, California

Celebrity debater, Great Western Springs College Celebrity Debate (moot: "That Television is the Best Teacher")

Celebrity debater, 11th Great Celebrity Debate, North Shore Libraries Foundation/Massey University (moot: "That Politics is the Most Honourable Profession")

Participant on Sunday Morning, Radio New Zealand National (24 March)

   
2001

Celebrity guest and cabaret guest artist, Cult TV Festival, Liverpool, UK

Guest lecturer, Massey University Celebration of Shakespeare (title: "Performing Shakespeare"

Celebrity guest, Creation Entertainment Hercules and Xena convention, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Celebrity debater, 10th Great Celebrity Debate, North Shore Libraries Foundation (moot: "That We Are the Champions")

Celebrity guest and sole performer in cabaret "Night Music in Valley Forge," Creation Entertainment Hercules and Xena convention, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

   
2000

Celebrity debater, Epsom Girl’s Grammar School Celebrity Debate (moot: "That Life's Too Short for Trivial Pursuits ")

Host, Axis Awards Show

Celebrity guest and cabaret guest artist, Creation Entertainment Hercules and Xena convention, Pasadena, California

Celebrity debater, 9th Great Celebrity Debate, North Shore Libraries Foundation (moot: "That We Have Reached ‘The End of the Golden Weather")

   
1999

Celebrity debater, Epsom Girl’s Grammar School Celebrity Debate (moot: "That Style is More Important Than Sincerity")

Guest artist, Starlight Symphony

Celebrity debater, The Warhol Celebrity Debate, Auckland Art Gallery (moot:  "That the Warhol 15 Minutes is Long Enough!")

Celebrity debater, 8th Great Celebrity Debate, North Shore Libraries Foundation (moot: "That It is Better to Marry Than to Burn")

   
1998

Celebrity debater, 7th Great Celebrity Debate, North Shore Libraries Foundation (moot: "That You Can Judge a Book by its Cover")

Celebrity guest, Construction-The 1998 National New Zealand Science Fiction Convention, Wellington, New Zealand

   
1997

Celebrity guest, Creation Entertainment Hercules and Xena convention, San Francisco, California (18 October)

Celebrity debater, 6th Great Celebrity Debate, North Shore Libraries Foundation (moot: "That You Can’t Have It Both Ways")

   
1996

Guest artist, Christmas in the Park

Celebrity debater, 5th Great Celebrity Debate, North Shore Libraries Foundation (moot: "That Where Ignorance is Bliss, ‘tis Folly to be Wise")

   
1991 Reader, Accidents (short story by John Cranna), Radio New Zealand
   
1984 Damien (voice) in The Devil and the Corner Grocer (short story by Margaret Mahy), Radio New Zealand
   
1981 Actor in music video for Blam Blam Blam's Don't Fight it Marsha, It's Bigger than Both of Us (watch it here)