Pre­sent­ed by Tuatara Col­lec­tive, HINE-TE-RĒHIA is a mul­ti­lin­gual the­atre expe­ri­ence com­ing to BATS The­atre in July. Devised, cre­at­ed and per­formed by an all-female BIPOC cast, this excit­ing show promis­es to leave you gasp­ing in awe of their tal­ent.

I had the chance to inter­view Jason Te Mete (pre­vi­ous deviser/director), Tāw­era Orms­by (co-Kai­whaka­haere of Tuatara Col­lec­tive) and Tia Orms­by (per­former). Have a read of my inter­view, and make sure you get along to the show from July 9th!

EM: Tell us about HINE-TE-RĒHIA in your own words!

TIA: HINE-TE-RĒHIA’s about a group of wāhine toa from dif­fer­ent indige­nous whaka­pa­pa telling sto­ries that need to be told through move­ment, song and spo­ken word.

EM: Devis­ing process­es in the­atre dif­fer between artists — what did the cre­ation & build­ing of HINE-TE-RĒHIA look like for you?

JT: We began the cre­ation and devel­op­ment process of HINE-TE-RĒHIA in 2020, which meant work­ing around and through the chal­lenges caused by COVID-19.

Ini­tial­ly, there was a lot of mahi done on Zoom where the foun­da­tions were built, char­ac­ters devel­oped, and sto­ry­lines explored. The actors chose an indi­vid­ual colour, and a god­dess (from any cul­ture) to anchor their research, and find con­nec­tions and align­ments with the kau­pa­pa and each oth­er.

The actors were able to weave their own nar­ra­tives into the char­ac­ter­i­za­tions to tack­le sub­ject mat­ter that mat­tered to them, using many dif­fer­ent medi­ums like move­ment and voice, as well as oth­er art­forms includ­ing writ­ing — poet­ry, prose and oth­er scripts.

EM: Your show fea­tures six young wāhine. What’s it like mak­ing the­atre with (and to some extent for) ran­gi­tahi? 

TIA: For me, real­ly ful­fill­ing.  It’s not often us ran­gatahi are giv­en the space for our voic­es to be heard, so it’s empow­er­ing to put our­selves into this work, and share what­ev­er it is we need to say.  HINE-TE-RĒHIA to me is like fill­ing the gaps that have been wait­ing for rep­re­sen­ta­tion of ran­gatahi, kōhine and tan­ga­ta when­ua. I also feel like HINE-TE-RĒHIA helps weave togeth­er all wāhine and mareiku­ra, like one big girl­hood expe­ri­ence.

EM: A “mul­ti­lin­gual the­atre expe­ri­ence that fea­tures singing, dance, haka and authen­tic sto­ry­telling through poet­ry and orig­i­nal mono­logues,” is no small feat to cre­ate. What have you found chal­leng­ing while mak­ing this work?

JT: Our ran­gatahi have tal­ent com­ing out of their ears. Tal­ent galore, and it is glo­ri­ous. The biggest chal­lenge in my opin­ion is find­ing and sus­tain­ing ade­quate fund­ing to be able to pro­vide these plat­forms for our young and vibrant ran­gatahi to speak their truth. They are the voic­es of our future, and we need to enable and help them cre­ate new leg­ends, which in most cas­es involves chang­ing the nar­ra­tives to place them at the cen­tre, where they can see them­selves as the hero, and as atua.

EM: As a the­atremak­er, I know how chal­leng­ing it can be to main­tain good men­tal health in an indus­try that is this change­able, so the work you’re doing in that space is very impor­tant. Tell us more about the Rātā Ini­tia­tive.

JT/TO: We acknowl­edge that shar­ing sto­ries about our men­tal health and well­be­ing can be ther­a­peu­tic and cathar­tic expe­ri­ences for artists and audi­ences alike, so we active­ly seek to hold space for those sto­ries to be told safe­ly. Through our Rātā Ini­tia­tive we engage health pro­fes­sion­als to work along­side and/or col­lab­o­rate with us, and bring their knowl­edge and exper­tise to each project ensur­ing the cast, crew and audi­ences are held with com­pas­sion and secu­ri­ty. This allows them to feel safe whilst expe­ri­enc­ing the sto­ries being shared at all times.

EM: Is there any­thing you’d like to add about your upcom­ing show?

TĀWERA: These wāhine are con­nect­ed to the world in a way that old­er gen­er­a­tions are con­stant­ly catch­ing up to under­stand. The themes in HINE-TE-RĒHIA are per­son­al, cel­e­bra­to­ry, provoca­tive and polit­i­cal, with a com­mon thread/lens of inclu­siv­i­ty and indi­gene­ity.

The con­tin­ued and ramped up geno­cide of the indige­nous Pales­tin­ian peo­ple has ignit­ed dis­ap­point­ment and heart­break among these wāhine, lead­ing to a Pales­tin­ian acknowl­edge­ment piece being added to this sea­son.

The show also address­es cli­mate change, women’s rights — espe­cial­ly around their bod­ies and con­sent, misog­y­ny, sex­u­al harm and trau­ma, and racism and the lay­ers of inter­gen­er­a­tional trau­ma caused by coloni­sa­tion.

HINE-TE-RĒHIA is being per­formed at BATS The­atre in Pōneke/Wellington 9–13th July at 6.30pm. Tick­ets range from $15-$40. Get yours here.