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Eight com­pan­ies per­form eight pro­duc­tions over three weeks in the Kia Mau fest­iv­al of theatre and dance. Matariki is the per­fect time of the year to indulge your senses with world class theatre and dance hos­ted by BATS Theatre, Te Papa, and Circa Theatre.

First up (tonight!) is Ver­sions of Allah presen­ted by con­tem­por­ary indi­gen­ous theatre com­pany Ohokomo. “Ver­sions of Allah whizzes its audi­ence around the world and back again as cous­ins Chisholm, Melanie, Dr. E. Bunton and Vicky recon­nect to their staunchly Cath­ol­ic Sam­oan Grand­moth­er liv­ing in Wel­ling­ton NZ. As they stray far from the Pacific…these girls still man­age to reveal what makes them intrins­ic­ally Sam­oan and intrins­ic­ally human.“ First seen at the Matariki Devel­op­ment Fest­iv­al 2015.

Next is the spec­tac­u­lar look­ing The Vul­tures presen­ted by Tawata Theatre. I love the poster for this and can’t wait to see Sis­ter Nurse Hinemoa and her sib­lings, Magazine Mag­nate Atawhai and Prodi­gious Busi­ness­man Pet­era, work their way through expand­ing the empire – even if it means des­troy­ing the world in the pro­cess.

Also this week is Shot Bro – Con­fes­sions of a Depressed Bul­let, a black com­edy presen­ted by Mookalucky Pro­duc­tions. Writ­ten & Per­formed by Rob Mokaraka he unfolds his ‘depres­sion in an enter­tain­ing yet insight­ful way, shin­ing light on a trau­mat­ic event – you will hear why he ended up being Shot Bro.’  After the show a for­um will be facil­it­ated by a qual­i­fied health pro­fes­sion­al.

Next week sees the open­ing of SolOTHELLO, an adapt­a­tion of the Shakespeare’s Oth­ello as a solo per­form­ance at Cir­caTheatre.   Regan Taylor  uses Māori Per­form­ance Mask (Te Mata Kokako o Rēhia) and mixes togeth­er the ‘ori­gin­al prose, mod­ern Eng­lish and Te Reo Māori to deliv­er a dynam­ic and cheeky inter­pret­a­tion.’Presen­ted by Te Rēhia Theatre Com­pany.

On the same night BATS hosts the open­ing of anoth­er solo show -Tiki Tour, a one-woman sketch com­edy show writ­ten and per­formed by Kura For­res­t­er.  She plays all the char­ac­ters includ­ing the main one ‑Bron­son Atar­angi from Pori­riua – who  is shar­ing his story about his recent travels abroad. Presen­ted by Hāpai Pro­duc­tions.

Later that week White Face Crew present the award win­ning show La Vie Dans Une Mari­on­ette. Be drawn into the epic melo­dra­mat­ic world of the Pian­ist and his Pup­pet as the Crew com­bine phys­ic­al theatre, clown­ing, dance and live music.

Next Sat­urday Te Papa host a read­ing of Whakaahua­tia Mai by Kahu Hotere. It “shows a moment of dis­cov­ery for Miharo, a young boy who must share his birth­day with the passing of his kuia. Through his time on the marae he dis­cov­ers the beauty of tik­anga, the import­ance of Tangi­hanga and gains a deep­er under­stand­ing of his whakapapa. Ori­gin­ally dir­ec­ted by Nancy Brun­ning for the 2004 Te Reo Māori Sea­son, Taki Rua has revived the hit Whakaahua­tia Mai for the 2016 tour.”

Mana Wahine is the tri­umphant finale to this fest­iv­al. Presen­ted by Okareka Dance Com­pany this piece com­bines dance, theatre and film to tell a story “inspired by the true story of Te Aokapur­angi, a young maid­en from Mokoia Island who single-handedly saved her people from slaughter.”

In te reo Māori, kia mau is a call to stay – an invit­a­tion to join and find out more about us all.