Fruits of her labour

New Zealand actress Morgana O’Reilly has adapted her stage show into a film. Photo: Amanda Billing

Rebecca Fox talks to New Zealand actress Morgana O’Reilly about her new film based on her one-woman stage show Stories About My Body.

Sitting in a darkened cinema watching herself in Stories About My Body for the first time, Morgana O’Reilly had a "big old cry".

"I just couldn’t believe it."

It had been such a long journey to get to that point.

"It was just one of those very rare but wonderful moments in a person’s life where you go, ‘oh, my gosh. I can see the fruits of my labour". And, "holy moly, it was a long labour’."

It began in the 2010s, when after two children, O’Reilly realised she needed to talk about some body issues.

"I made a show that I needed to see. I feel like I kind of came to in my mid-30s after having kids and was like, "whoa, what do you mean I’m not 28 any more? Why does this feel different? Why do I have to feel different about my body after babies?

"I just had a lot to say on it, and I felt like nobody was talking about any of it. And I wanted to have a joyous, funny discussion about how silly our bodies are, but how clever they are and be kind to them."

But Covid put paid to its opening night in 2021 so she put it on in her backyard in 2022.

"I think that people resonate with reflecting on that your body has a history. You’ve been through a lot with your body, and you’ve probably disliked it heaps. But nevertheless, it’s still here, and it’s still chugging away for you. It might have given you babies. That’s pretty cool that it can do that."

It is not all serious though, there is "a lot of silliness to be honest", she says.

"I tell a big, long story in the middle about when I lived in New York for a bit, and I worked at foot fetish parties."

O’Reilly in her new film Stories About My Body. Photo: Amanda Billing

She took it to Melbourne Comedy Festival later that year and toured it through 2023.

"Seeing as I’m basically fuelled on compliments, I was sort of like, OK, well, I better keep performing it because people seem to really love it."

But then what O’Reilly, whose children are now aged 11 and 7, likes to call "mothers’ practicality" kicked in.

"I don’t want to be away from my kids for too much touring. My work takes me away a lot as it is."

So she turned to her "clever director" husband Emmy Award-winner and Bafta nominee Peter Salmon (After the Party), thinking he is good at making things on screen.

"I thought we could do that together and actually something like this could be a very beautiful piece of something.

"So we made it into a film so that this film can tour beyond what I’m capable of touring. So I won’t mess up my kids too much."

But it has not been an easy journey. They had to raise the money to make it, which she is really proud of.

"It hasn’t received any funding of any kind. It hasn’t received sponsorship of any kind. It’s been crowdfunded by the people who’ve seen the show and loved it or wanted to see it and couldn’t."

Then they had to translate the theatre piece into a film while wanting the audience to feel like they were watching something alive on stage.

"And so it was a little bit of mental gymnastics to work out how to make sure it felt like everything was unfolding in front of you."

They tried to find the middle ground between what is organically possible on stage and pushing it "a nudge" into what can be done on screen.

O’Reilly starred as Pam in the third season of The White Lotus. Photo: supplied

A "profound" moment for her was when the sound mix was added to the film.

"It just felt like one beautiful beast. That was really exciting."

Working with her husband on the project has been special given that it tells the story of them meeting and the birth of their children.

"There’s nothing better than watching your partner be really awesome. I love watching him as a director.

"I forget about the fact that he doesn’t put the dishes in the dishwasher the way I want him to. He forgets about the fact that I don’t load the dishwasher the way he wants me to. We’re in our professional spaces."

The project was done in between the couple’s other various acting and directing commitments.

"It was just a slow and steady push, push, push, push. If I had stopped pushing it at any point ... it just wouldn’t have gone anywhere.

"I was saying to my husband the other day, ‘if this was a production with a proper budget, we could have moved things along a bit faster’."

For O’Reilly that has included a stint as the highly strung Pam in The White Lotus’ third season.

"I still can’t believe it. I still pinch myself that I got to be a part of that juggernaut of cultural impact."

She felt it was validation for all her hard work over the past 18 years even though she believes there are no "finish lines" in show business.

"Just like any other job in any other world, I guess, you plod along as best you can, and you get these wins, and that just felt like such a win."

O’Reilly played Jess in New Zealand sitcom Mean Mums. Photo: supplied

While she had no concerns about being able to play Pam, she was terrified at the thought of the social side of being on location in Thailand.

"I’m meeting all these amazingly famous, gorgeous, wonderful people who I’ve admired from afar in the middle of an insanely opulent hotel setting in 38-degree heat with 100% humidity. That really felt like the pressure cooker."

But by the end of the experience she had made new friends and got to live in a fancy hotel for a few months.

"It felt like I won a competition. It felt like I won an all-expenses-paid trip to Thailand, and you get to be in your favourite TV show. I felt really proud of how it turned out in the end."

In those 18 years O’Reilly has mixed stage and screen, drama and comedy.

Like for most New Zealand actors, being adaptable and flexible is the only way to have a career.

"I’ve always seemed to swing between comedy and drama regularly, since drama school."

O’Reilly really likes the drama side of acting.

"That’s why I don’t really call myself a stand-up, is because I feel like more of a storyteller. So I really like the sad bits, and I like the angry bits, and I like the crazy bits. I like it all."

She started to create her own work to give her some control instead of waiting for someone to give her a role.

"When I make a solo work, I can just get it on the road."

O’Reilly loves all of the ladies she has played, with a number getting under her skin, like Stella in a Streetcar Named Desire or Nicole in Friends Like Her or Joni Grey in Playing Gracie Darling.

"I think every role probably has a special place in my heart. If I could, I’d find them on Facebook, but they’re in me."

O’Reilly stars in Stories About My Body. Photo: Amanda Billing

She still has people stopping her having recognised her from her role as the bubbly Jess in Mean Mums.

"They often say, it’s their comfort show, and that’s amazing to be that person. I was doing drunken karaoke in the Gold Coast not but a week ago, and the woman who was running the karaoke was like, Oh my God! [you’re Jess]."

Stories About My Body had a sold-out run at this year’s New Zealand International Comedy Festival and will soon show at cinemas around the country.

Prior to that a series of advance screenings are being held which O’Reilly is attending and will speak at including in Dunedin and Queenstown.

"This is very exciting. I’m going to go down through the country."

When not touring the country or on stage or screen, O’Reilly makes the most of being with her children and pets.

"We have a crazy artist house full of trinkets and animals."

With a husband in the business, they juggle their workloads to try and ensure one is home with the children.

"We just stumble along and figure it out as we go. My parents are incredibly helpful. Our families are so amazing. They’re vital. We could not do this without them."