Playwright gives voice to hidden histories

Flintlock Musket. Photo / Supplied

All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players," wrote Shakespeare in As You Like It. He could have added that some play more prominent roles while others have what seem to be just walk-on parts. History remembers the main players but the "extras" often have equally fascinating stories.

Now Outrageous Fortune star Kirk Torrance has turned to New Zealand history to uncover one of our more significant but nonetheless largely ignored episodes. With a little inspiration from Macbeth, which he sees as a tribal story, Torrance has written a play blending historical fact with fiction and giving voice to men and women lost from the historical record.

Flintlock Musket is set in the early 1800s shortly before the "Musket Wars" when Maori began to use the guns in inter-tribal fighting. According to historian Michael King, around 20,000 people lost their lives during 30 years of fighting and whole hapu were wiped out.

The characters in Torrance's drama were inspired by some "extras" in our history - men and women who crossed the divide between European and Maori.

Protagonist Hine (Nancy Brunning) is trapped in servitude, while Mason (Jason Whyte) is a Scotsman who has jumped ship to escape the violent life of an itinerant whaler. He proves himself a formidable warrior, earning a place in the hapu where Hine is captive.

Aoraki (Maaka Pohatu) is the chief who appears to control Hine and Mason's fates. When Mason is given to Hine as her husband, she recognises a kindred spirit who is equally out of place and can help free her - but at what price?

Mason is cut from the same cloth as the very first Europeans to settle here, men who lived with and as Maori after jumping ship and surviving mainly because of the grace and favour of local iwi. These men became known as "Pakeha Maori", marrying Maori women, living according to customary law and frequently acting as mediators and interpreters between Maori and Pakeha.

Flintlock Musket director Rachel House Brunning say we hear so few of these stories because a "broad brushstroke" approach has been applied to history. They say more stories are needed that focus on "ordinary" people caught up in extraordinary events.

House believes Maori, especially women, have tended to be presented as victims or cliched stereotypes: solo mothers or criminals. While she is quick to add that sometimes there is validity in those portrayals, she says plays like Flintlock Musket create more complex characters.

"Hierarchical systems were in place before Europeans arrived. We had our own rules, our own chiefs and our own power structures we had to bow down to. The beauty, in terms of this particular story, is that we get to see both cultures exposed and that there are hierarchies, power structures and struggles which run through both. Hine and Mason want to be liberated from those who have control in their particular worlds."

Brunning and House explain that fresh voices, like Torrance's, are always needed in theatre especially as many established practitioners now work behind the scenes, in administration or teaching, leaving gaps for emerging writers and performers.

"What has really changed is that Maori now work from the inside out rather than the outside," Brunning says. "The 1970s, when Maori writers started writing and telling our own stories from within, marked a real turning point.

"There were individuals like Bruce Mason, who was amazing. He understood the need to write Maori into local plays otherwise it would look like we did not exist at all so that's why he started writing our stories. He also understood the need to step back, when the time was right, and let Maori take up the responsibility."

She believes theatre is the best medium to see ourselves because it does not have the same constraints as film and television.

"We have more control over our stories. We don't have to bow down to the networks and have only the characters they want to see."

An award-winning director and actor, House got involved with Flintlock Musket two years ago when Torrance asked her to read a draft script. Best known as Outrageous Fortune's Wayne Judd, Torrance's debut play Strata won the 2003 Chapman Tripp Theatre Award for Most Original Production, Outstanding New Playwright and Most Promising New Director.

House was wary of reading the script, especially one by a friend.

"I get very tentative about reading scripts because I don't always feel that I'm going to have a good time reading them. I picked it up, planning to read it scene by scene and act by act, take it slow, but I couldn't put it down. It featured a great dramatic journey, it had continuous momentum and it was a gripping story."

Brunning auditioned earlier this year, saying that after a break away from the stage she wanted to see if she still had what it takes.

"I love theatre and it's the thing that keeps me alive. It is the only medium where I can test whether I still have the spirit for it and this is the play for that. With any play I do, I hope there are closet writers sitting in the audience who think: 'Wow, if they can do that then so can I.' I hope it encourages people to keep the stories coming."

With a cast of more than 20 actors, musicians and dancers, Flintlock Musket makes much use of music and dance as well as poetic language. While opening night is still a few days off, some already believe it could be a new New Zealand classic.

The Edge - the organisation charged by Auckland City Council with delivering arts and cultural activities on its behalf - picked Flintlock Musket as the first production in its new Passport programme, which aims to support the development of work which could go global. It is an extension of The Edge's Stamp programme, which supports new New Zealand performing arts work.

Performance

What: Flintlock Musket

Where and when: Lower NZI, Aotea Centre, November 17-28DEFT: Kirk Torrance has blended fact and fiction to highlight a forgotten episode of history.