ROBERT TRIPE (1985-1986)

Dux 1986

Robert attended Huntley in 1985 and 1986 before going on to Whanganui Collegiate, and then Victoria University, where he gained a BA in Modern Languages. After two years working and travelling in Japan and the Pacific, he spent three years in the Acting Programme at Toi Whakaari: The New Zealand Drama School, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Performing Arts in 1999.

 

After sometime overseas in France and elsewhere, he returned to New Zealand and a succession of roles on stage, mainly in Wellington. He was nominated as ‘Supporting Actor of the Year’ at the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards for two years running: in 2005 for his role in The Cherry Orchard, then again for Death of a Salesman in 2006. For the past two years, Robert has been living in Auckland, where he has been able to gain better access into the screen industry, as well as continuing to perform on stage, with an emphasis on singing.

Huntley memory

“Occasionally on Saturday mornings, sport would be cancelled because of bad weather, and JA (James Allan, Dep. Headmaster) would organise an impromptu entertainment/concert for the whole school. I was inevitably a part of every one of these shows, which were thrown together in a matter of hours, if that. They were always a pressure cooker of excitement and spontaneity, and remain one of my strongest memories of Huntley.”