Pricing | BUY TICKETS |
A Reserve $25 + fees Want to purchase in person? Drop in and see the team at the Gisborne iSite (Grey St, Gisborne). |
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Production Credits: | |
Co-Produced by Hāpai Productions and Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival |
Dates | Venue | Times |
Friday 2nd Oct | Reynold’s Hall, Uawa | 7pm |
Saturday 3rd Oct | Reynold’s Hall, Uawa | 7pm |
Tuesday 6th Oct | St Paul’s Anglican Church, Wairoa | 7pm |
Saturday 10th Oct | Lawson Field Theatre, Gisborne | 2pm and 7pm |
Duration : 70 minutes |
Celebrating some of the most inspirational wāhine Māori characters of New Zealand fiction.
In 2019 we bid farewell to one of the greats of Aotearoa stage and screen, Nancy Brunning. In 2020 we pay tribute to Brunning’s brilliance in a return, tribute season of her work, Witi’s Wāhine.
Guided by their sharpness of wit, keen powers of observation and the foresight to bend the elements to their will… Witi’s Wāhine pays tribute to the true stars of Witi Ihimaera’s novels – those indomitable female characters so beloved by readers.
Witi’s Wāhine is lovingly crafted from excerpts from Witi’s semi-autobiographical collection of short stories and novels. Our heroines take you on an epic journey across their history, their mythology, their cultural consciousness – as we recognise the passion, truth and spirit of mana wāhine.
Witi’s Wāhine brings to life remarkable female characters from novels such as The Matriarch, Whānau, Pounamu Pounamu and more in an evening that will ignite your deepest instincts of a people in metamorphosis.
Witi's Wāhine will tour the region visiting venues and marae across Te Tairāwhiti – from Tikitiki to Wairoa.
“Brunning brilliantly draws together the threads from the pages of the books to reveal a love story dedicated to all the women Witi has moulded his characters from… the many Māori matriarchs who fulfil their roles in a distinctively Māori way.”
- Michelle Ngamoki, Theatreview
"There it all was, Ihimaera's remarkable ability to shuffle history… serving up the richness of culture and the wonder of people, with all their warts, with all the laughter and the singing and the pain… I don't mind saying I was utterly wrung out by the end, and felt blessed for it.”
- Simon Wilson, New Zealand Herald