Tales from Taranaki to feature in Māori theatre
A theatre show that brings together Māori mythology and real life ‘‘hard truths’’ is about to hit the stage in Wellington, but the writer’s ultimate goal is to bring it to Taranaki.
Sherilee Kahui, of Taranaki iwi, has written and directed Mokomoko, which delves into the impacts of colonisation and violence on Māori – with added humour, she said.
‘‘I’m doing the work to confront that,’’ the mother-of-two said. ‘‘The people I made this for is our Māori women – that’s who I had in my heart when I was writing.
‘‘But, it’s a very dark, dark, dark comedy.’’
Mokomoko is Kahui’s first full-length play, and it will feature at Wellington’s Bats Theatre from March 17-26.
The story follows Moko, who is a lizard, ‘‘who is stuck between a rock and a hard place’’.
‘‘She feels that a stronger grounding in her whakapapa (geneology) will help her heal from personal trauma, but the more she learns, the more she finds there’s so much more work to do.’’
Kahui wrote the piece after researching her own whakapapa, and looking into the tales of Hinauri – who, in Māori mythology, is the sister of Māui.
As each iwi can have different tales, Kahui focussed on what her tūpuna (ancestors) in Taranaki had passed down about Hinauri.
‘‘She’s let down by the men in her life at every turn,’’ Kahui said. ‘‘She found her own strength to be able to survive.’’
So, she summarised that story into te reo Māori, and it is told throughout the show.
‘‘That holds all of the pieces together.’’
Plus, Kahui said she wasn’t the only person involved in the show that was an uri (descendant) of Taranaki.
She said there were four of them in total, including lead actor, Mycah Keall (Taranaki iwi), and kaumatua, Gay Puketapu-AndrewsĀ (Te tiawa), which had ‘‘been really awesome’’.
Hence why while the development season is taking place in Wellington, Kahui hopes to bring it home. ‘‘I’d like to premiere it in Taranaki, I think that’s where it belongs.’’
‘‘The people I made this for is our Māori women – that’s who I had in my heart when I was writing.’’ Sherilee Kahui