Arts on Tour Update 11 May

Every time I perform the play, I fall further and deeper into it. The internal rhythms, their own shapes begin to emerge, and I ride the wave of the story motion; it carries me, like a river flowing to its end, the ocean, the resolve, the spreading of peace.

The wonderful Arts On Tour producer Steve Thomas asked that we create an opportunity for discussion following the performance. The response has been quite shocking in that people have been very affected by a number of facets. Always questions about the origins of the story, so I am able to elucidate on all my reading and pay respects to the likes of Claudia Orange, Dame Anne Salmond, Trevor Bently, Ned Fletcher (and others)  Witi Ihimaera, and Patricia Grace. Such people, as academics and novelists, have provided such a rich resource. Then we get to the Treaty, and as I detail my own thoughts as to the Treaty being a wise and radical guide for us and the deep consideration that was undertaken in its development in the decade leading up to its signing, I sense the possibility of re-consideration. A woman asked me, “So you don’t think it was a deliberate attempt to cheat Māori and was never intended to work?” I say, “The 500 Maori who signed it were not stupid, the treaty is sound and valid, and sensible. The promotion of the two translations as a reason to disregard it is undertaken by people who will benefit from that disregard”. I find people to be receptive to these provocations. Frequently, people comment on the presence of te reo Maori in the play, and those who understand express their joy at being able to follow. A 12-year-old Maori boy told me, “I didn’t even have to translate it for myself, I just understood.” A very humble Pākehā couple proudly told me they study together and were up to level 5 at the local Wananga. To touch into their lives in such a way is certainly the business of theatre.

There are complimentary comments on my work and I learn from what they notice and speak of. The mask also requires explanation, as the last sequence, being so different from the rest of the play, causes people to alter perception and they ask what such a presence could mean. These discussions are so very satisfying and I feel a deep committment to a mission of theatre, that we move through entertainment to an uncovering of pertanent issues, both personal and political.

I sense a struggle out here, people seem backed into a corner. Venues apologise that audience numbers are so small and people tell us of the dwindling of resources and the dissapearance of musical and dramatic societies, and how hard it is to convince people that the live performance experience is worth leaving home for. We must fight to save our communities from the bedlam of global digital distraction and revive local culture and the spirit of creativity. We must teach healing through storytelling and the elevation of the spirit through communal innovation.

Kia kaha the arts!

40 Years of Noh Theatre in New Zealand

I am happy to announce the commencement of a national tour of my solo play Te Tupua-The Goblin. This is an Arts On Tour production and I am very excited to have 20 performances booked from Kerikeri to Invercargill.

This work has grown from decades of my experience, and I am happy to share some thoughts about my practice, and the presence of Noh Theatre in my education, writing and performance.

Evolution of Noh Theatre in Aotearoa.

In 1984 I paid my first visit to Kyoto to study the oldest theatre form in the world, Noh Theatre. Stories of ghosts, demons, haunted spirits and questing souls of demented women, somehow appealed to me.

I have maintained my connections in Kyoto and have made four extended visits to study and dream of Noh, its techniques and conventions, and these practices have blended with all my other influences and understandings.

In my play Te Tupua-The Goblin I draw on conventions and inspirations from my 50 years of performing, teaching, directing and writing theatre. The ancients pondered how to represent a spirit onstage, a ghost. I am challenged and excited by the idea that there should be a curated and finely honed action that will allow spirits of the past to appear in our reality.

How to do this? To bring a form through from a world many will deny even exists, (and for them it doesn’t), but for those of us that do believe the world of the past is everything that has shaped the present and is in fact therefore ‘present’, the mask lifts the veil. There is bridge from that world to this and ritual opens the door for this ancient pathway to be trodden.

The ancestors are with us.

In these four photos you see me, the young artist in Kyoto in 1984 preparing for my first Noh recital, and then two masks made by Richard Homan. These masks are based on the Noh style, a type balanced, pale, ethereal, and have appeared in productions I have made. And finally in rehearsal for Te Tupua-The Goblin and the layering of the Kilt and the Kimono.

Iwakura Studio, Kyoto, Japan 1984

The Blue Shawl, Noh Play, Waikato University 2007

Swamp Treasures, Fuel Festival Hamilton, 2005

Waitakere Hall, Te Tupua - The Goblin rehearsal, layering kilt on kimono, 2024