WHEN motherhood dictated that actor Michelle Hine would need to reorganise her priorities, she put her children at the top. Eventually.
“I had my first child in Wellington and filmed the series Away Laughing with a baby on set. There were actually a lot of babies on set at the time, and mothers who had to breastfeed and then go do the show. Once I’d had two kids it was hard to continue, so I taught and directed instead,” she says.
“I believe very strongly in giving children a sense of security and love. It’s a hard choice to make, often at the time you have children you’re getting very good at what you do. I was juggling [the roles of mother and career woman], and I realised I was playing neither part well,” she says.  
Hine plays Jude in her most recent theatre production The Idea of America, a woman who took the other road at that junction.
“She made a choice that I didn’t make; to put her career before everything. As a result her children and her have a very fractured relationship. They see her as narcissistic, and she’s also an alcoholic which doesn’t help; neither of which I am I hope,” she laughs.
Now in her mid 50s, Hine has in the last year landed a regular role on TVNZ’s Go Girls, and has already performed in three seasons of The Idea of America.
“It’s a juggle of a life being a performer, a very tenuous existence. I’ve been very lucky in that since I was 20 I haven’t had to work outside this industry. And now I’ve decided to do full time acting, and suddenly there are all these plays that require an older woman. It’s been an absolute ball.”
In The Idea of America, Hine’s character Jude is a failed actress battling alcohol-induced dementia. Her long-separated family gathers around her as comedic and tragic moments ensue.
“Having seen family members with various forms of dementia it’s amazing how they can be totally with you one minute and then suddenly go somewhere else and seem so different. It’s terribly upsetting with the person being so far away without having actually died. Because it’s funny as well it’s quite cathartic, people laugh and cry, which makes for a damn good night at the theatre. That’s what theatre’s all about really, making you feel something, and this show does that.”
The Idea of America, Bats
Theatre, 8-19 March.