What timing. This local documentary, which premiered at the New Zealand International Film Festival, tells the 40-year story of Taki Rua, the first theatre troupe to be run as a Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership. The film, made by one of the company’s founders Whetū Fala, is a timely tale, just as the country is embroiled in protests over the Treaty Principles Bill.
In the early 80s of the post-Springbok tour era, Wellington Pākehā-liberal theatre collective, the New Depot, had the good sense to partner with Māori artists and commission play texts in te reo.
The New Depot morphed into Taki Rua, and its alumni have included the late Nancy Brunning, Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement and Rachel House, as well as playwright Briar Grace-Smith, actor/director Jim Moriarty and producer Philippa Campbell. The co-operative continues to make and perform Māori language productions.
Part documentary, part performance, Taki Rua Theatre is a wonderful portrait of, and introduction to, an initiative dedicated to telling Māori stories that provides the audience with a mirror (for those who grew up in te ao Māori) and a window (for Pākehā).
Rather than a traditional observational doco, it’s a comprehensive oral history from the mouths of impassioned talking heads, interposed with Fala probing the collective’s current actors. Their insights are unflinching, honest and mana-upholding.
The doco’s filmed play performances are quite magical: hybrid theatre on screen doesn’t always work, but these scenes make a fantastic intro for audiences.
There’s also plenty of forthright analysis in the recollections of the experienced and informed interviewees – criticism of the “liberal” arts council that didn’t support Māori theatre back in the day, and the danger of Māori being too “grateful” for a pittance of government funding and not demanding their worth.
Taki Rua Theatre is not particularly cinematic. Its message would translate just as effectively on the small screen. But anyone with an interest in Aotearoa theatre history will find it fascinating. The film boasts a treasure trove of cultural icons and an inspiring story of self-determination, which is as alive today as when Taki Rua began.
Rating out of five: ★★★★
Taki Rua Theatre - Breaking Barriers, directed by Whetū Fala, is in cinemas now.
