Joyous and light show contrasts with psychological thriller

Kiri is a small yellow tuatara with a feisty attitude. She portrays a confident front to the world and is fiercely loyal to her forest friends in the award-winning animated children’s series, Kiri and Lou. But unbeknown to her thousands of young fans, Kiri’s alter-ego is New Zealand actress and performer Liv Tennent. Tennent has been Kiri’s voice since the beginning of the series eight years ago. A fan of animation voice work, Tennent auditioned for the role when writer and director Harry Sinclair was developing the stop-motion animation series with scores by his fellow The Front Lawn band member Don McGlashan. “I’ve always really loved doing it. It’s a very sort of creatively fulfilling job. There’s a lot of creative freedom in it.” She was “stoked’’ to get the role and has so far done 105 episodes of the series, aimed at children aged 3 to 7, as well as music albums and a movie version, Kiri and Lou Go Raaa!. [Missing Credit]Liv Tennent. Photo: Andi Crown Photography “Kiri’s journey is kind of coming to terms with being vulnerable. Because on the outside she wants to seem confident and like she doesn’t care. “Lou kind of brings out this more vulnerable side to her and her sensitive side.” Lou is voiced by actor, comedian and musician Jemaine Clement. The show, which has also been turned into children’s books, tackles big concepts such as death, inclusion and body positivity. “Harry just manages to do it always in a really gentle, kind of age-appropriate way, but with a beautiful storyline.” [Missing Credit]The Kiri and Lou team (from left) Rachel House (moderator of Q and A), Liv Tennent, Jemaine Clement, Annie Murray (NZ Film Commission) and Antony Elworthy (head animator on K&L) at the Annecy Film Festival for the world premiere of Kiri and Lou Go Raa! Photo: Supplied Tennent gets into character by channelling her “inner-child” and her parents have said they can recognise a “little Liv” in Kiri. She admires a lot of the qualities Kiri possesses such as her spontaneity, self-confidence, her ability to make anything into a game and her lack of hesitation when it comes to standing up for her friends when she senses something is unjust. “I love playing her, as she always reminds me of things I could do better in my own life.” One of the challenges of being involved in the series since the beginning for the actors is keeping their voices consistent. “I found after having my own child, my voice got really low. And Jemaine, he’s actually said the same thing. His voice has gotten sort of more gravely, I guess, as he’s gotten older. “We have to go back and remind ourselves of how they sounded right at the start and try and mimic that.” Surprisingly, given the natural chemistry between Kiri and Lou, Tennant and Jemaine have only recorded together once since the show began and met twice. “Everyone records separately, and we only ever have Harry in the booth with us and he performs all the other lines as well as giving direction for our own performance.” She finds playing Kiri sometimes more tiring than live acting as she tries to get across all the emotions in her voice. “I’m on my feet in the booth for hours at a time, and probably pulling some pretty weird and wonderful faces, as well as moving about in quite strange ways. It’s wonderfully freeing as an actor to not have to worry about what you look like because no one will see it.” The music and dialogue is recorded before the episodes are animated, giving the actors total creative freedom as they are not trying to match pre-existing emotions. “The animators love this process too, as they have our vocal performances to inspire and guide their work, and then they elevate our performances again with their incredible talent.” Tennent’s latest project is bringing the characters to life with orchestral music. Auckland Philharmonia initiated the project as one of their regular children’s concerts. “They’ve done things with Wallace and Gromit and things like that. But it just makes it so much more special for it to have been made here with New Zealand accents and it’s all completely New Zealand themed.” With Sinclair unavailable, Tennent stepped in to write the show, a first for her which she was excited, if a bit intimidated, to do. With the help of the team at the Philharmonia and McGlashan doing the musical arrangements, the show came together. They decided they did not want to “burst the bubble” of Kiri and Lou being real creatures to its young audience, so while Tennent narrates the show, she does not do it as Kiri. “So I’m kind of like the host of the show, but I never say during the show, I’m Kiri. I’m just Liv.” She links the musical elements, talks about the themes of the show and encourages the audience to get up and dance while visuals from the show are displayed in the background. It was important for her to highlight the role of the live orchestra so the audience is introduced to different instruments throughout the show. “What makes these shows unique, is there is a live orchestra playing the music. So let’s highlight that and let’s really lean into that and make that a highlight for the kids.” Dunedin Symphony Orchestra education liaison Feby Idrus says introducing children to orchestral music in a fun concert like Kiri and Lou helps them understand that music is made by real people, that it’s accessible, and that they can make music too. “Listening to and making music is a great way to stimulate kids’ brains and supports their learning in many other areas, including movement, reading and writing, along with entertaining them. This kind of concert also shows parents that orchestral music isn’t just for certain audiences, but that their kids can enjoy it, understand it and engage with it too.” For Tennent, hearing it all come together in Christchurch for the first time was quite emotional. “It has just been incredible hearing those songs with an orchestra.’’ Also getting first-hand reaction from the audience is a first. “It’s sometimes hard to grasp quite how popular the show is or how far it’s reached or just how much people love it. But when they’re in the room with you and you see them singing along, they know the lyrics, they’re laughing. You can’t beat that feeling.” She goes out to meet audience members after the show. “It’s so special having photos with the little fans. It really brings it home how much the show means to people. And that makes our job so fulfilling.” With Kiri and Lou shows on at the weekends around the country in coming weeks, Tennent will be filling her weekdays with rehearsals for her latest stage role in psychological thriller Job at Silo Theatre where she plays Jane, who is ordered into therapy by her employer. “It’s like the opposite to Kiri and Lou. It’s very dark, it’s quite heavy, it’s very kind of adult.” [Missing Credit]Liv Tennent’s next role is a complete contrast to Kiri and Lou, the psychological thriller Job. Photo: Supplied The role is one Tennant is finding a bit daunting but also an amazing opportunity. “I think the rehearsal process is going to be pretty full-on and quite intense. And then on the weekends, I’ll get to go and perform to some lovely families and get to do this really joyous and light show. So I love that about my job.” Like most New Zealand performers, Tennant has many “hats” having started out as a 4-year-old learning dance before falling into acting when a screen acting teacher suggested she give it a go after seeing her in a school play. When she was offered her first role in an advertisement, her mother turned it down thinking they had to pay for her inclusion. “My agent said, no, she gets paid to be in it. And my mum was like, ‘oh gosh, okay’. So my parents were very green to the industry but I kind of loved that, there was no pressure at any point to keep going.’’ Turns out she loved it so kept doing it. Her first acting role was a runaway princess at the age of 7 in Xena: Warrior Princess and she played Tuesday Warner on Shortland St a few years later. She studied psychology and linguistics at university with the idea of one day training to do speech language therapy if acting work dries up. Over the years, Tennant has done a great many things including her own music and dance videos, solo shows and choreography. She has choreographed on music videos such as Tami Neilson’s Careless Women, Bret Mackenzie’s If You Wanna Go, ratbag’s Exit Girl, and the musical productions Shortland Street the Musical (ATC) and That Bloody Woman (ATC). [Missing Credit]Liv Tennent in her solo show “For You to Know and Me to Find Out”. Photo: Andi Crown Photography In 2024, Tennant created and performed her solo show For You to Know and Me to Find Out which went on to win Best in Fringe, the Sydney Fringe Tour Ready Award and Adelaide Fringe Tour Ready Award at the NZ Fringe Festival 2025. Last year she played the lead role of Mary Shelley in Jess Sayer’s new play Mary: The Birth of Frankenstein for the Auckland Theatre Company. Kiri and Lou has been a constant throughout. She was pregnant with her son during recording of the second season of the show and a recording of Kiri and Lou songs came in handy with a young baby who did not like travelling in cars. “It was me singing. So I would just put the album on and it would be really soothing and comforting for him. It’s been really amazing seeing him grow up with the show and having this personal connection to it. ” She also often watched Alwyn as a toddler as he grappled with new emotions that were quite confusing to him. “I could really empathise with that. Kiri has quite a few moments during both the TV series and the film where she is confronted with an unfamiliar feeling which she can’t quite articulate and through voicing this through song or a conversation with a friend, she’s able to work through it. I think that is one of the biggest joys about this show is that it’s helping kids, and adults, name and talk about their feelings in a gentle and creative way.” While it is tough in the arts, she believes performers need to hang on and support each other. “And really advocate as much as possible for the arts.” To see: Kiri & Lou — A Family Concert, Dunedin Town Hall, August 15, 2pm and 3.30pm