Maori theatre gets a modern makeover, writes Dionne Christian.
Modern theatre frequently brings together disparate cultures to create vivid and dramatic storytelling - the time-worn "new twists" on age-old stories - and it's certainly true with Auckland's Matariki Festival programme.
The theatre component includes playwright Albert Belz' gothic Jack the Ripper tale Yours Truly, a mask theatre work based on Shakespeare's Othello (SolOthello) and the monologue series Glimmer, where, on the streets of Auckland, the modern world meets ancient characters.
And, as the festival gets bigger, more is added. This year, the Basement Theatre runs its inaugural Matariki Season, co-programmed by Jason Te Kare. It starts today with a midday mihi whakatau, an opening welcoming less formal than a powhiri.
Te Kare says it's important to the theatre to acknowledge and respect "this land and its people".
"We see engagement with tangata whenua as essential, not simply because of Treaty obligations but because Maori voices are and should always be valued, embraced, celebrated and sung along with," he says. "As a nation we are all the poorer without it. This season marks just one way we want to honour this ongoing commitment by joining with tangata whenua; to make, play, listen, share, laugh, watch, learn and have fun."
Its programme includes visual arts, music, short-film screenings, spoken word and even a flax-weaving workshop. The three theatre pieces are: Hine, Glimmer and The White Face Crew's La Vie Dans Une Marionette.
By day, Whetu Silver works as Auckland Theatre Company's Youth Arts Co-ordinator but she's an experienced dancer and choreographer. With her younger sister, Komako, who's on her way to becoming a film-maker, and whanau, she's created Hine and says it's a work in development which uses traditional story-telling techniques - waiata and karakia among them - music and film to explore "the sacredness of womanhood".
Regan Taylor uses masks in his one-man show, SolOthello. Photo / NZME.
Silver has long been interested in the roles of Maori men and women before European colonisation. Hine has involved sharing stories, talking about what it means to be female today and what it might have meant then.
Meanwhile, Regan Taylor continues to pioneer Maori mask theatre (Te Mata Kokako o Rehia), something he began with the 2014 production Hoki Mai Tama Ma. That play, named after the folk song Return to me, my boys, used masks to merge contemporary Maori theatre and traditional performing arts with historic Italian comedy methods.
Since, Taylor has adapted Shakespeare's Othello, weaving together the original prose with modern English and te reo. He says it works partly because the rhythm in Shakespeare's language is like te reo and it's also packed with imagery. He's taking the show on tour, visiting marae across Auckland as part of the Matariki on the Move programme.
SolOthello features four characters with Taylor using three masks - one each for the characters Desdemona, Iago and Roderigo - and playing Othello unmasked. He says he "hated" Shakespeare until he set out to give himself a challenge and create a mask work using Othello as the basis.
"Now I think he was a genius and I want to do more to promote that."
SolOthello producer Te Rehia Theatre has a second show, Yours Truly, set in a Victorian London gripped by fear as Jack the Ripper stalks the streets.
But producer Amber Curreen doesn't think it's all that strange to see it in a Matariki festival. It was written by a Maori playwright, Albert Belz, has Blair Strang in the leading role and the work is made using kaupapa Maori fundamentals of aroha (love), manaakitanga (hospitality, generosity and support) and whanau (family).
"I think it's wonderful," says Curreen, "because it shows our artists are refusing to be 'boxed in'. Why should you be restricted to writing about certain things - a narrow definition of what's considered 'Maori' - just because of your ethnicity? We're celebrating excellence in the arts and I'm very excited by the variety in this programme."
