Matariki - a time to share our stories

P L A Y M A R K E T
Brown Ink Playreading Tour

M E D I A R E L E A S E

13 JUNE 2012

Celebrate Matariki with a Story Both New And Old, Remembered And Forgotten, Heartbreaking And Hopeful.

The rise of the star cluster MATARIKI this month marks the Maori New Year – an event that is a time to come together and share skills, achievements, histories and stories. This Matariki, Playmarket, Auckland Council, Toi O Manukau, Tamaki Makaurau Matariki Festival Trust and Te Papa Tongarewa have joined together to bring you Raw Men by Whiti Hereaka. Whiti Hereaka’s stageplay, inspired by Rowley Habib’s poem, brings a human face to the generational effects of war, and obligation, and the misunderstood silence that grew between fathers and sons post-war.

“I kept thinking on the proverb,” says Hereaka, “that thefather's sins are visited on the son. Except, I wanted toinvert that and make it the father's virtues. And, yes, someof the sins are more visible but by the end I want people tothink that that whole generation's sacrifice, meant that hisgrandson could go to university, participate in society andbe heard.”

Whiti is a playwright, novelist, screenwriter and a barrister and solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand. Her play TeKaupoi won the 2010 Playmarket Adam NZ Play Award – Best Play by a Maori Playwright and Rona and Rabbit onthe Moon was shortlisted for the same prize in 2011. Her first novel The Graphologist’s Apprentice was published in 2010 and shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers First Book awards.

The play is being presented in a series of rehearsed readings in Auckland and Wellington, as part of Playmarket’s Brown Ink programme and the readings are open to the public for koha entry. Join us this Matariki and share in this story of our past and our hopes for the future.

RAW MEN

By Whiti Hereaka (Ngati Tuwharetoa, Te Arawa)
Created with Nancy Brunning (Ngati Raukawa, Ngai Tuhoe)
Inspired by the poems of Rowley Habib (Ngati Tuwharetoa)
Directed by Nancy Brunning
Featuring Scotty Cotter (Havoc in the Garden, Purapurawhetu, Awhi Tapu), Maaka Pohatu (Strange Resting Places, Mark Twain and Me in Maoriland) and Rawiri Paratene (The Maori Troilus and Cressida, Hohepa).

The Basement
Lower Greys Avenue
25 June 2012 6.30pm
Nathan Homestead
Manurewa Arts Centre
26 June 2012 6.30pm
Corban Estate Arts Centre
Old St Michaels Church
27 June 2012 6.30pm
Mangere Arts Centre
Nga Tohu O Uenuku
28 June 2012 6.30pm
Te Papa Museum
The Marae, Level 4
Friday 29 June 2012 12pm
* Raw Men contains adult content*

ENDS

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