ME & MY GIRL!
Rawiri’s favourite politician
“
When I was a little girl, I used to think that I had two dads,” says Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson. “One was sitting right next to me, while the other one lived in a little box in the lounge!”
She’s talking about one of New Zealand’s acting royalty,
Rawiri Paratene, 67, who hosted the popular series Play School during the ’80s, when his family was young.
When the Weekly catches up with the pair at Rawiri’s home in Auckland, Marama’s running late, due to very wet weather and when she arrives, clutching toddler granddaughter Raeya, pronouncing her to be still in her pyjamas and “unbreakfasted”, Rawiri just grins fondly and reaches in for a warm hug with them both, while his wife Lester quickly rustles up toast and Marmite.
It’s a bond that is particularly special after Rawiri suffered a series of strokes in 2018 which temporarily halted his career. At the time of the first stroke, he was rehearsing the role of Sultan in the musical Aladdin, which was due to begin in Auckland, but he was forced to pull out. Following a second and third stroke, Rawiri was left with aphasia, which delays neural pathways between the brain and speech. He has spent the past three years teaching himself how to talk again, with almost complete success.
“You weren’t going to be shut up for long, Dad, were you?” Marama teases. “I’m incredibly proud of his strength and the way he’s fought back.
He’s talking really well and although his short-term memory isn’t always great, he’s remembering much more from long ago, which is actually quite lovely.”
These include memories that he happily shares with the Weekly, including the story of how he became an actor.
“I wanted to study law, but my father thought that lawyers were dishonourable and lie
for a living,” he says. And so, having always been a huge fan of Shakespeare, he chose to become an actor and was the first Ma¯ ori graduate of the New Zealand Drama School in 1973.
“In one of my first plays, my dad came along, because he also liked to have a beer at the bar, and my aunty came too, but she got carried away and forgot I was acting. When I shot somebody on stage, she jumped up from her seat and started yelling at me, ‘You’re in big trouble now, Rawiri!’”
His incredible career has spanned more than 50 years, including his role as Koro in the 2003 award-winning film Whale Rider. He also has a string of achievements in acting, writing and directing, including Footrot Flats: The Dog’s Tale and
What Becomes of the Broken Hearted. He was awarded a New Zealand Order of Merit in 2013 for services to film, television and theatre.
But while his theatre work is important, family is even more so. When Marama, still a student, gave birth to her eldest daughter Hiria, now 27, he worried how she would manage her studies. But wha¯ nau stepped in to help.
“We’re a very close family, so I was able to take some amazing support for granted and Dad has always shown us all unconditional love,” Marama tells, adding that he gets overcome with excitement whenever a grandchild, or these days a great-grandchild, arrives.
“As their Koro, he can’t wait for that first kiss with his new mokopuna!”
While Marama hasn’t followed his footsteps into acting, her political ambitions were instilled in her from a young age by Rawiri and her mother, Hanakawhi Nepe-Fox.
“Both my parents were politically motivated – they even met on the steps of Parliament in the 1970s while demonstrating in support of te reo,” the 47-year-old tells. “We always had a tremendous sense of kotahitanga [togetherness] in our family home.”
Her father, who later stood for the Green Party, had passionate ideals that were a magnet to other notable thinkers of the era, including artist Ralph Hotere and poet Hone Tuwhare.
“I spent a lot of time sitting quietly in our Dunedin home in the 1980s, listening to and absorbing their shared and sometimes provocative wisdom,” recalls Marama, who studied politics in the ’90s.
“I’m driven by a conviction that life must become far better for people in society who are often forgotten and don’t have a voice,” she says.
She entered Parliament in 2015 and became co-leader of the Green Party on April 8,
2018. “It was your birthday, remember?” she asks her chuckling dad. “And I said, as your present, I was giving you a whole lot more fatherly stress!”
Now Marama leads a frantic life, flying between Auckland and Wellington weekly, while her husband Paul and four of their six children, who range in age from 12 to 27, keep the family’s Manurewa home humming, while two older daughters flat nearby.
“Parliament is tough and I couldn’t do this without the backing I have at home,” Marama shares. “It’s always a case of negotiating your position, over and over again, to try and gain ground, and it gets incredibly tiring.”
She is passionate about her portfolios as Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence and Associate Housing Minister, saying, “Homelessness is a huge problem and you can’t be safe if you don’t have a home, so then domestic and sexual violence often comes into play. But we’re working hard to create a framework to address these issues.”
Her commitment to her role means she doesn’t see as much of her children and her granddaughter Raeya, who will soon be two, as she would like.
“Sometimes I even forget little details such as who in the family prefers which foods, and I hate missing out on their important occasions like kapa haka and birthdays, but it’s a privilege to serve as a minister and I know I can make a difference.”
Meanwhile, her dad has made a final appearance on stage, reprising his 2017 show Peter Paka Paratene – Ask Me Anything, which celebrates his life and work.
‘I said as your present, I was giving you a whole lot more fatherly stress!’
“After this, I really am retiring,” Rawiri says firmly.
But while he is closing the curtain on his acting career, later this year Rariwi is set to start a master’s degree. A former Robert Burns Fellow at Otago University, he enjoys the academic life.
“I’m really looking forward to being amongst the students again,” he smiles. “I’ll be about 75 when I finish my master’s and maybe then I’ll go for a doctorate!”
“And I have no doubt he will pull that off,” Marama laughs.
As the father and daughter look at each other with incredible affection, Marama says their relationship just becomes closer and closer.
Nodding in agreement, Rawiri confirms, “I couldn’t be prouder of my beautiful, feisty daughter.” #
Peter Paka Paratene was the first show in the newly built Te Pau Theatre at Corban Estate Arts Centre in Auckland. The next show, an immersive satirical theatre experience, is Racists Anonymous, running from 18 – 22 May. tepoutheatre.nz