Tama Te Rerewa Koopu performs in Whakapaupākihi.
Review by Avery Lavelle
A look back over some of the highlights of the Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival.
Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival’s 2023 “RĀ” season was a triumph and brought the Gisborne community together through the activities and events delivered across the rohe.
The festival, born in 2019, now has three seasons annually: TAI (Matariki), RĀ (October) and WHITI (February).
Family favourite Te Ara i Whiti, the light trail, shone with engaging and interactive artworks that extended across Marina and Kelvin Parks, making the three rivers area once again an exciting destination for people of all ages.
Illuminated sculptural works by Lissy and Rudi Robinson-Cole, Maia Keane, Jamie Berry, Ngaire Tuhua, Erena Koopu, Melanie Tangaere Baldwin, Natalie Robertson, Sarah Hudson and Amio Renati celebrated contemporary Māori design and connections to the whenua.
Walkways installed on the grass made for a safe and comfortable experience without muddy feet. The addition of an audio soundscape throughout the installation brought a sensory aspect to the artworks, creating a sense of mystery and wonder.
Upu, the first of two festival shows at the War Memorial Theatre, made us laugh and it made us cry. The actors appeared on curved and oddly shaped set pieces, stepping forward one at a time to eschew the languid words heavy with meaning, shards of lived experience from Samoa, Marshall Islands, Guam, Hawai’i, Tonga, and Aotearoa. Some poems new, some decades old, were all rife with beauty and brought to life by the dynamic actors who included Mia Blake, Maiava Nathaniel Lees, James Maeva, and Ana Corbett. The lighting design was superb.
Foiled by bad weather, the Eastwoodhill concert featuring Maori soul band Ia was brought indoors to Lawson Field Theatre. Nonetheless it was a great turnout. The purity of the taonga puoro voices mingling with the human voices and acoustic instruments recalled the essence of nature, and spoke a spiritual language. It was easy to see why the vision of festival director Tama Waipara was to present this remarkable act at the Arboretum.
Big J — A New Legacy, a solo theatre piece written by and starring Jacob Dombroski, was delivered with an emotional, personal and universal declaration of self-esteem, love and professional dedication. Jacob’s genuine performance shook up ideas of art, beauty and ability, showing that the performing arts is a truly powerful means of expression and connection.
The long awaited arrival of Deva Mahal in Gisborne was a joyous moment. The theatre was transformed into a cabaret-style setting for the chanteuse. Her voice instantly captured the room, bringing passionate renditions of her original songs — standouts being Goddamn, Run Deep and Stand In. Deva peppered the show with lighthearted yarns about cuttlefish and other curiosities. Members of the audience felt privileged to be there.
The grand finale of Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival this year was Whakapaupākihi, the Development Season. This Reo Māori musical, written by the Tuari siblings, directed by Rutene Spooner and guided by Dr Wayne Ngata, is an explosion of talent, an absolute delight to watch and an incredibly unique work with deep local connections.
Harkening to mythical times but with a futuristic set design, Whakapaupākihi dramatises a quintessentially East Coast story of three ancestors, the brothers Taua, Māhaki and Hauiti, who birthed the tribes of Te Tairāwhiti. With stellar vocals and loads of action, even those without much reo could easily follow the story. The entire audience was transfixed. Erena Koopu was sensational as Iranui.
The first reading and sing-through of Whakapaupākihi took place at Lawson Field Theatre at Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival in 2021, and two years later in 2023 it was the biggest set build ever to grace the War Memorial Theatre. It’s hard to believe that the polished production we witnessed is still considered to be under development. Keep an eye out for this show in the future, because you will be hearing about it.
A lot of hard work goes into planning and delivering Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival.
The genius is in the curation, the support for local talent and the audience development initiatives which continue to bring exceptional arts and culture experiences to our people.
Ka mihi mātou ki a koe!