Hayley-Marie Axe is a professional actress helping to raise funds for a much-loved Rye charity, Ferry Road Nursery. She talked to Pat Driver about her career, her life, her joy of living in Rye and her stage performance with Rye Players.
Pat Driver: I’m going to politely refrain from starting with a question about your recent appearance in Dungeons and Dragons: Honour Among Thieves.
First, tell me a little bit about yourself and your connection to Rye.
My husband is the deputy harbour master so that’s what brought us to Rye. I also have a beautiful painting that my grandmother had done from a photo of me as a child amidst the long grass on sand dunes. I’ve always loved it. It was only when we came to Rye that we connected the dots that this was Camber Sands.
I always knew from a young age that I was going to be an actress. I got in to Redroofs Theatre School in Maidenhead at about the time their alumna Kate Winslet was starring in Titanic so the training has been long and thorough. I did two years of acting and musical theatre there and then a year of their post-graduate film and screen acting course. I’m enjoying the variety that an acting career brings and I’ve worked in film, theatre and TV for more than twenty years. Earlier this year I worked on the second season of a popular Amazon thriller TV series and most recently I completed filming in a big Christmas ad campaign. As we speak, I’m off to Northern Ireland to play a lovely role in a new murder mystery feature film, then straight on to a Disney TV series filming in London so life is quite busy!
Many people saw you in Book Club, the recent Rye Players production at the Mermaid Inn as part of the Rye Arts Festival. It’s an unusual collaboration for somebody in the business. How did it come about?
Living locally, I knew about and have friends that are part of Rye Players and it’s been great to see them emerge so successfully from a dark couple of years. I always felt I owed them a debt of gratitude after many of their members volunteered to cover front of house for a seasonal production that I produced a few years ago. When they approached me about Book Club I also saw an opportunity to make good a personal commitment I have made to Ferry Road Nursery, so happily accepted the opportunity to perform at the Rye Arts Festival on the basis that we also did a performance as a fundraiser for the nursery. I’m so glad I did, the cast and team are such a delight to work with and it’s my first time performing at the festival but it won’t be my last. I’m already thinking about what I could do next year – having a young child I don’t want to go away for long theatre runs but I miss being on the stage so I really enjoyed being able to perform on my doorstep and not miss out on precious family time.
I don’t think many people realise that the nursery is a registered charity and that its objectives are to provide opportunities for both play and education.
What is your connection and why do you want to fundraise for them?
Our child goes to Ferry Road Nursery and they are such a lovely team who work so hard, but like many schools and nurseries only just make ends meet so they need to fundraise. They have a longstanding committee who have given their time for many years and I went along to one of their meetings. During the pandemic they couldn’t do their usual fundraising activities, such as their well known duck race, so they need all the help they can get to catch up.
Like all charities, they do look for public support to raise the money needed to maintain and improve their services. When I heard about the nursery’s “wishlist” ambition to create a sensory path in the garden, I knew that my taking part in the Rye Players show offered a great opportunity to help their children with additional needs.
We will stage a benefit performance of Book Club that will raise those much-needed funds for the nursery and also contribute to the running costs of Rye Players. Kate Bromage has written a very funny play and I know the audiences will love it. She saw it in Rye last month and joined in the laughter we heard throughout: a beautiful sound.
Where and when and how do we book?
We are very fortunate and grateful to be able to use the Ellen Terry Barn Theatre at Smallhythe, a place steeped in theatrical history. The performance will take place on Friday, October 20 at 7:30pm.
Not so fast Hayley. Tell us about Dungeons and Dragons! We want to know it all...
It was a dream come true to work on the DnD movie.
Auditions?
I auditioned by self-tape during lockdown. I sent two takes; one was my gut instinct on the character – big friendly giant but could take out ten men, then take two was my wildcard (I like to send wildcard takes to mix it up a bit), where I ate my way through a very messy chicken leg throughout the scene. The rest is history as they say.
Co-stars?
My scene with Bradley Cooper has gained a lot of attention. In case you haven’t seen the film I won’t give too much away, but let’s just say that size matters! I also feel very lucky to have worked with the legend that is Michelle Rodriguez, who was very down to earth and lovely to work with.
Anecdote?
I was breastfeeding my baby at the time, so when I was called for the filming in Belfast, we all went there as a family so I could continue. I was sewn into my leather costume and as the hours passed in between feeds my costume got tighter, particularly on one side (the joys of breastfeeding). On my first night, the lovely ladies from the costume department couriered an “in-bra” breast pump to my hotel room purely for my comfort on set the next day. That was such a sweet and touching thing to do and a really positive thing for working mums in the film and TV industry.
Image Credits: Kt bruce , Ferry Road Nursery , Hayley-Marie Axe archives , Kt bruce .