Red Leap Theatre presents Kororāreka: The Ballad of Maggie Flynn, written by Paolo Rotondo and directed by Julie Nolan. The show is set in the era of the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, up at Kororāreka (present-day Russell). Fictionalised from the stories of real life NZ women, it follows Maggie Flynn, who leaves Ireland a convict and arrives in Kororāreka the captain of a whaling ship. When burying her husband on the shores of this land she is captured by a Māori chief and becomes his mōkai, a prestige slave more akin to a pet. Her fortune continues to twist and turn until one day culture and history collide and her ultimate undoing is the very world she sought to escape.

This work is a legacy to the women in our past, the ones often too wild to be captured by history books. Rotondo says ““Starting with my mother, this story is a fictionalised homage to the strength, power, toughness, resilience and wit that exists in the character of the New Zealand woman.  I do not believe that Kate Sheppard, Helen Clarke, Lorde or Eleanor Catton, are exceptions to the rule, in fact they are a product of a long line of powerful women.”

(Use the code MAGGIE to get $10 off adult tickets)