Maori artists prominent in NZ Festival of Arts

Tu Tangata, Issue 28, 1 February 1986, Page 40

Maori artists prominent in NZ Festival of Arts

By Yvonne Dasler

Artefacts and artists, museums and musicians, poets and players all sectors of the Maori arts community will be prominently featured in next years inaugural New Zealand Festival of the Arts.

From the first karanga of welcome on March 5 to the close of Festival on March 26 Maori performers will be an integral and vital part of the international cultural mix, according to festival director Michael Maxwell. Popular too. Although artists and performers from 18 countries will be taking part, bookings are extremely heavy for those with a significant Maori input.

One of the most exciting projects is the Circa Theatre production of Waitangi, billed as revealing the “truth” about the events of February 6, 1840. The show to be held in the Wellington Town Hall from March 4 to March 10 inclusive is a dramatisation of the diaries of missionary printer William Colenso who faithfully recorded the circumstances and politics of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. “We want truth,” says joint director Richard Campion. “We are built on the foundation of Waitangi. There will be no slanting.”

The quest for accuracy extends to ensuring that actors speak in the language of the time. Pakeha actors representing the English colonists will speak English and Maori actors and actresses will speak in Maori. Joint director Don Sel-

wyn will co-ordinate the cultural groups taking part in the mass scenes and decor is being devised by noted artist and performer Selwyn Muru. Wiremu Parker has the task of translation and Maori authenticity is being scrutinised by a committee which includes Darcy Nicholas, John Tahu, Keri Kaa and Maori Marsden.

Nicholas has a joint role. As director of the Flying Kiwi Fringe Festival to be run in conjunction with the main events, he promises a prominent position for young Maori artists and professes a personal bias toward the showcasing of new Maori and South Pacific talent.

The same emphasis can be seen in Writers and Readers Week, to be held from March 12 to March 16 inclusive. Organised by a committee which includes noted author Witi Ihimaera, the festival programme includes panel discussions, pub readings, lectures and social gatherings with writers from all over the world. Of the six New Zealand authors invited as special guests, two are Maori. Keri Hulme of the Kai Tahu will take part in a discussion with Samoan Albert Wendt and Felix Mnthai of Botswana on writing across cultures as well as reading her fiction and verse, and noted poet Hone Tuwhare returns from a Fellowship in Germany to give readings of his poetry. A high point of the Writers and Readers Week programme will also be the launch of Patricia Grace's new novel Potiki.