Why theatre? Why Māori theatre?

One of my current responsibilities is Chairperson and Trustee of Te Pou Theatre in West Auckland. Te Pou is 'Auckland's Māori Home of Theatre' and it has been a delight to be part of a passionate and committed team who are developing new tikanga Māori inspired approaches to theatre. 

We have been undertaking strategic planning throughout 2020 and as part of that process, I wrote the following notes about theatre and Māori theatre. This is some 'thinking out loud' and is not meant to be a comprehensive and exhaustive philosophy of theatre. Rather, it is a list of ideas to provide some context (in my own mind) when thinking about Te Pou Theatre going forward.

Why theatre? Why conduct theatre?

  • Theatre is concerned with storytelling and offering communities and audiences distinctive experiences through storytelling and associated performing arts, activities and experiences.
  • Storytelling is a critical dimension of human life and society. Quality storytelling contributes immensely to the health and wellbeing of society. It tells us who we are and what our experiences have been. Quality storytelling offers us perspectives on life, values and much more. Storytelling is invaluable.
  • Society, people, need a passionate and motivated investigation of life.
  • People also desire non-ordinary, extraordinary experiences that contrast with the mundane and daily grind of life. People yearn to be uplifted, moved and awoken. The ability to uplift and move people is extraordinarily valuable and contributes immensely to health and well-being.
  • People are able to access storytelling through a variety of media - film, TV, interview, print. However, theatre offers visceral and unique experiences that are achieved only through face-to-face human interactions. There is something unique and particular that can occur when a group of people share an amount of space and time together in a shared experience.

Why conduct theatre in Aotearoa-New Zealand?

  • Just like any community in the world, New Zealanders need to hear and experience stories. They too wish to be awoken, uplifted and inspired, they too need to obtain the benefits that can be derived from quality storytelling. Just like any community in the world, New Zealanders have a need to hear their own stories - for telling stories of the greatest relevance to a community leads to benefits and value for that community.
    • On the whole, New Zealand has been poor at telling our stories to ourselves. Generations of New Zealanders have grown up being told stories from elsewhere without a complementary telling of New Zealand stories. Consequently, some New Zealanders have grown up with a somewhat limited and impoverished understanding of New Zealand. Some have grown up with a somewhat ‘skewed’ and perhaps even erroneous understanding of themselves, their history and identity. This is unhealthy. Consequently, there is a need to address the underrepresentation of New Zealand stories in New Zealand storytelling.

How is theatre to be conducted in Aotearoa-New Zealand? Part One

  • It is possible to import a model of theatre from overseas to present stories to New Zealand audiences. On the whole, this is what has happened in New Zealand theatre - the adoption of western, particularly British derived, models of theatre. However, just as telling stories from overseas only leads to an impoverishment of New Zealand audiences and communities, so too does the absence of an ‘Aotearoa-New Zealand way’ of conducting theatre and performing arts. It suggests a lack of intellectual and creative capability on the part of New Zealanders. It not only suggests that our stories are not worth telling, it also suggests that we do not have the imagination or creativity to design and implement a style and practice of theatre that works for us, that suits our worldview, culture and outlook.
  • Hence, in conducting theatre in Aotearoa-New Zealand, we are conscious of creating a model of theatre that reflects who we are and our experiences. We understand that theatre is not just the story told, but is also the manner in which it is told. And just as other New Zealand institutions are maturing - reflecting a maturation of independent and vital New Zealand society and culture - so New Zealand theatre too is maturing whereby a distinctive Aotearoa-New Zealand inspired model of theatre is now possible. This is very exciting and is to be embraced and supported. 
  • To this point, it is possible to summarise an ‘Aotearoa-New Zealand model of theatre as:
    • a ‘place’ where Aotearoa-New Zealand stories are told to New Zealand audiences
    • a ‘place’ that employs distinctive methods and practices and according to distinctive values, culture and worldview to tell stories to New Zealand audiences and communities. Some of these stories are derived from Aotearoa-New Zealand and some stories come from other histories and traditions yet possess things of interest to New Zealanders.

How is theatre to be conducted in Aotearoa-New Zealand? Part Two

  • In developing a model of Aotearoa-New Zealand theatre, It is important to think about the way stories are told and presented to audiences, primarily because the way a story is told is greatly influential upon the impact a story has upon its audience - the degree to which an audience is moved, challenged, uplifted, inspired and so on. A good story can be ruined in the telling.
  • In order for theatre and storytelling to be successful, a ‘bridge’ has to be built between the story being told and the audience and community who attend the theatre. This means thinking about the needs of an audience and community. This is about taking theatre to people rather than presenting theatre and expecting the audience to make their own way to it. And the best way to do this is by understanding audiences and developing a method of storytelling and theatre that reflects the culture and experiences of the audience and community. Theatre is most powerful when it connects deeply with the experiences of their audiences and communities. 
  • Audiences and communities wish to experience stories as much as hear them - and the totality of the experience a community enjoys in the theatre is not just the experience of a performance but also the experience of the institution of the theatre itself.
  • So important is storytelling method and approach that some argue that selecting the right way to tell a story is more important than selecting the right story. This is because a mature and sophisticated storytelling method can become so powerful that it is felt no matter what story is being told.

Why Māori Theatre? Why a Māori theatre?

  • The limited opportunities for New Zealanders to hear New Zealand stories is even more acute when we consider Māori storytelling. Unfortunately, opportunities for New Zealanders to hear Māori stories told very well are still limited. Hence, conducting Māori theatre is about increasing opportunities for New Zealand communities and audiences to hear Māori stories.
  • It is also important to think about the way Māori stories are told, so that the method of storytelling in some way also reflects the culture and worldview out of which those stories arise. Conducting Māori theatre, therefore, is about exploring ways of telling stories based upon the culture and worldview of the stories themselves. Hence, it is envisaged that Māori stories would be told in conventional New Zealand theatres as well as in theatre spaces and venues that are designed upon Māori values and worldview of the culture out of which these stories are told.

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