Te Tangi a Te Tūī is a ground-breaking collaboration between Te Rēhia Theatre, The Dust Palace and The Cultch, which weaves collectively components of Māori pūrakau, circus theatre, spectacular visuals, and beautiful choreography to inform the story of the Tūī’s music which turns into an allegory for the sweetness and persistence of te reo Māori. The Tūī’s birdsong is advanced and distinctive and has been described as a “colorful mix of musical notes and offbeat sounds” (Birdsong web site). Similarly, this manufacturing brings collectively a disparate vary of vibrant theatrical components which, regardless of some offbeat components, creates a melodious expertise that’s pleasing to the eyes and ears of audiences, and which can proceed to reverberate by means of Auckland theatre for years to come back.
Written by Tainui Tukiwaho and Amber Curreen, the script tells two interconnected tales which centre round a mom Aotahi (Amber Curreen) who provides start to her son Piri (Paku Fernandez) whom she tries to cover from the Patupaiarehe or fairy individuals and a legendary birdman known as Kōiriiri who all inhabit a close-by forests. A frontrunner of the Patupaiarehe, Te Pua o Te Reinga (Eve Gordon), needs Piri as a option to deliver again the spirit of Hāpeta (Tainui Tukiwaho) – a person she cherished and misplaced to warfare. The birdman Kōiriiri (Joe Dekkers-Reihana) needs the boy as utu or revenge towards Aotahi’s ancestor who trapped him and gifted him to a priest.
The first story follows the warrior Hāpeta who meets and falls in love with a pacesetter of the Patupaiarehe Te Pua o Te Reinga. Their love is finally threatened by the arrival of Pākeha colonists and the arrival of warfare. Each time Hāpeta leaves the forest to struggle in battles he returns increasingly more modified. The enchantment he felt for his love Te Pua o Te Reinga and the forest withers, finally turning into symbolised by a wound in his facet that received’t heal. Eventually his grandson Te Rongopai listens to the forest and the Patupaiarehe and pulls on the scab of the wound, releasing his grandfather’s ache and a flood of tears that transforms Hāpeta right into a lake. In the manufacturing this transformation was enacted in a stunning sequence the place a refrain of Patupaiarehe unfurl blue material throughout the stage as Hāpeta (Tainui Tukiwaho) recedes after which disappears beneath a raised rostra on the stage.
The second story centres on the determine of the birdman known as Kōiriiri who’s trapped, tortured and finally gifted to a Pākehā priest (Geoff Gilson). A key characteristic of this manufacturing, which makes use of the metaphor of Tūī birdsong to inform the story of the fantastic thing about te reo Māori, is that the whole lot of the manufacturing was delivered in te reo Māori barring one odd scene. During this scene, a tub is rolled out onstage and two attendants repeat biblical phrases in English whereas the priest carries out his ablutions earlier than the birdman exacts his revenge and secures his freedom. My sense is that the second story was a bit weak and far of the prolonged trapping and torturing sequences of Kōiriiri could possibly be reduce. In a manufacturing showcasing te reo Māori, the bath scene and the spoken English dialogue was a bit jarring, sitting as only one ‘offbeat’ factor in an in any other case melodious dramaturgical construction.
According to the programme the concept of the present got here to co-creators Eve Gordon of Dust Palace and Tainui Tukiwaho of Te Rēhia Theatre, after they had been teenagers over 20 years in the past, after they heard of how the Tūī’s music is consistently morphing in response to colonial in addition to industrial modifications within the nation. As with all nice collaborations, the manufacturing accommodates uniquely inventive components that work due to the time and a focus that has been expended. The sound design by David Atai and James Zambucka is excellent and is woven seamlessly with the bodily choreography and circus. Geoff Gilson’s circus route is excellent and the performers from the Dust Palace all give excellent performances of agility, energy and style. Another excellent characteristic of the manufacturing are the lighting, set, and circus equipment design by Jane Hakaraia whose inventive and alchemical contact appears to remodel any base theatre parts into memorable and magical visuals.
It is fascinating that this uniquely New Zealand manufacturing, telling a uniquely Indigenous Māori story from Aotearoa, had its world premiere at The Cultch theatre in Vancouver in October 2023. The manufacturing was initially commissioned by The Cultch and indigenous firm Urban Ink, which is a manufacturing firm situated on unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples that tells tales of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities and their connection to tradition, language, and land. We needs to be grateful that cultural leaders in Canada had the imaginative and prescient and foresight to assist this manufacturing and it’s good that our personal cultural businesses equivalent to Creative NZ, the Ministry of Culture and Heritage, and the Auckland Arts Festival have come onboard to assist this present run.
Te Tangi a Te Tūī performs at Te Pou Theatre till 10 March, 2024 as a part of the Auckland Arts Festival.
