City: Rotorua

Te Tangi a Te Tūī

Following its international premiere in Vancouver and an acclaimed Aotearoa season at Te Pou Theatre during Te Ahurei Toi o Tāmaki, Te Tangi a Te Tūī now travels to five North Island centres as part of the PANNZ National Touring Programme. Audiences across the motu are invited to experience this visually arresting and emotionally stirring work, deeply rooted in te ao Māori.

“visually and emotionally powerful” - Stir Vancouver

An epic tale of love, loss and hope, weaving te reo Māori and cirque theatre.

By Tainui Tukiwaho and Amber Curreen. A collaboration between Te Pou Theatre and The Dust Palace

He karanga nō te kainga. Pulling us heart first back to the ngāhere.

The Tūī soaks up the world around it and responds in song. Though beautiful, its tune is now a faint echo of what it once was when Aotearoa was blanketed in the ngāhere, flutes of patupaiarehe filled the trees and Māori alone walked gently upon their mother.

Te Tangi a Te Tūī invites you to experience an enchanting and empowering Māori cirque theatre work about adaptation and authenticity.This collaboration between kaupapa Māori theatre company, Te Pou Theatre and circus theatre company, The Dust Palace, is an evocative narrative of love and loss between Māori and the natural world in the face of colonial impact.

The show features an incredibly talented cast of performers including, Ria Paki, Eve Gordon, Joe Dekkers-Reihana, Paku Fernandez, Tainui Tukiwaho, Te Rongopai Cureen-Tukiwaho, Luis Meirelles, Anthony Te Puke, Mary Piggin and Mia van Oyen.

After sell out seasons in Vancouver and Tāmaki Makaurau, Te Tangi a Te Tūī is set to tour Te Ika-a-Māui in August 2025.

Kaituhi / Writer - Amber Curreen
Kaituhi, Ringatohu, Kaiwaihanga /Writer, Director, Co-Creator - Tainui Tukiwaho
Kaiwaihanga /Co-Creator - Eve Gordon
Whakawhiti Reo /Script Translation - Te Rau Kete Ltd (Haani Huata) & Ōmanapou Ltd (Maioha Allen)
Mātanga Reo Māori / Te Reo Māori Consultant - Maioha Allen
Movement Consultant / Kaiwhakarite Nukuhanga - Ria Paki
Kaiwhakarite Whakaari / Producer - Rachael Dubois
Ringatohu Maninirau / Circus Director - Geoff Gilson
Kaihoahoa Rama, Ātaamira / Lighting, Set & Apparatus Design - Jane Hakaraia
Kaihoahoa Oro / Sound Design - Crescendo Studio: David Atai & James Zambucka
Kaihoahoa Kaka / Costume Design - Eve Gordon
Kaihoahoa Kūne / Technical Director -Emily Hakaraia
Kaiwharite Ātaamira / Stage Manager - Edward Peni
Ringa whakahaere Oro/Rama / Lighting & Sound Operator - Michael Goodwin
Ringa whakahaere hiki / Riggers - Josh Davern & Andrew Gibson

Proudly presented by The Dust Palace, Te Pou Theatre and PANNZ, with support from Baycourt, Sir Howard Morrison, TSB Showplace, Forum North and Turner Centre.

There will be a matinee and evening show in each centre, and kura / school groups are encouraged to contact the theatre near them to access discounted tickets.

Performed entirely in te reo Māori, the production surrounds audiences with the richness of the language and its cultural resonance. Those who are fluent or on their te reo Māori journey will enjoy the full immersion experience.

Those with limited knowledge of te reo Māori and wishing to engage more deeply will be provided with a full English-language synopsis and radio play upon booking (This can also be listened to below). The recording ensures the work remains accessible to all, allowing audiences to connect with the performance at whatever level suits them.

UPU (2023)

Following critical acclaim as a major new production for Silo Theatre in the 2020 Auckland International Arts festival, and a sell out season in Wellington at the Kia Mau Arts Festival in June 2021, the award-winning UPU will be presented across Aotearoa in October 2023 as part of PANNZ's touring programme.

“In short, UPU shows Oceanic storytelling is truly amazing” - NZ Herald

The power of Māori & Pasifika literature roaring to theatrical life.

The world of Oceania is not small. From the energetic volcanoes of O’ahu to the southern reaches of Aotearoa, she is borderless and vast – and growing bigger by the day. After decades of dismissal and disconnection, her children are closer than ever. It’s time for a reunion.

In Samoan “upu” means “word”.

Curated by award-winning poet Grace Iwashita-Taylor and led by powerhouse director Fasitua Amosa, UPU gives the stage to Oceania’s most electrifying poetry. Ben Brown, Karlo Mila, Albert Wendt and more: UPU is for the trailblazers, the icons and the new writers transforming Aotearoa today.

In UPU, borders disappear and for just over an hour, the theatre becomes a sea of Islands. Be transported across an ocean to hear the voices dealing with colonisation, family, climate change, love, sex, religion, power and tourists.

Performed by a stellar cast of some of the best Tagata Moana actors in Aotearoa NZ - Maiava Nathaniel Lees, Mia Blake, Ana Corbett, Shadon Meredith,  James Maeva, Nicola Kāwana and Nora Aati.

“This show is pure oratory and storytelling at its finest.” - Theatrescenes (NZ)

Curator - Grace Iwashita-Taylor
Director - Fasitua Amosa
Set Design - Michael McCabe
Light and Projection Design - Rowan Pierce
Soundscape Design / Original Composition - 'Anonymouz', aka Faiumu Matthew Salapu
Costume Design - Kristin Seth
Artist / Projection Mamanu Design - Tyla Vaeau
Movement / Choreographer - Joash Fahitua

SHOW AWARDS: Best Director & Best Sound Design, Wellington Theatre awards, 2021

Supported by Creative New Zealand, produced by UPU Collective and presented as part of the PANNZ (Performing Arts Network New Zealand) touring programme.

Recommended for ages 15+. Contains strong language and adult themes.

AUDIO DESCRIBED PERFORMANCES AND TOUCH TOURS

PANNZ are delighted to be partnering once again with Audio Described Aotearoa, supported by Manatū Taonga Ministry of Culture and Heritage, to offer touch tours and audio described (AD) performances of UPU for the low vision community in Taranaki, Rotorua, Tauranga and the Hawke’s Bay. Full booking details for the AD performances can be downloaded here.

The Haka Party Incident

Following its renowned sold-out premiere season in 2021, The Haka Party Incident will be presented across Aotearoa in June 2023 as part of PANNZ's touring programme.

“Masterfully brings to life a bold act of resistance…intensely funny, to heartbreakingly sad in a single beat”

Theatreview, 09 April 2021

The last New Zealand war took place in Auckland in 1979. It lasted three minutes.

The Haka Party Incident resurrects the eventful day when a group of University of Auckland engineering students rehearsing their annual tradition of a mock haka are confronted by the activist group, He Taua.

The incident sent ripples through the nation and changed race relations in New Zealand forever.

Crafted by film-maker and theatre director Katie Wolfe (The Mooncake and the Kūmara, Waru, He Māngai Wāhine, Artefact), The Haka Party Incident is verbatim theatre that innovatively combines documentary and kapa haka to thrilling effect.

Provocative, resonant and unforgettable, The Haka Party Incident is a not-to-be-missed theatre event.

Writer & Director - Katie Wolfe
Kaiako Kapa Haka/ Kaitito Haka - Nīkau Balme
Sound Design& Musical Direction - Kingsley Spargo
Taonga Pūoro - Whetu Silver
Set Design - John Verryt
Lighting Design - Jo Kilgour
Costume Design - Alison Reid
Performers - Roimata Fox, Nī Dekkers-Reihana, Lauren Gibson, Aidan O’Malley, Patrick Tafa, Kauri Williams, Finley Hughes

Supported by Creative New Zealand, produced by Tasman Ray Productions and presented as part of the PANNZ (Performing Arts Network New Zealand) touring programme. Originally commissioned and produced by Auckland Theatre Company, original season co-presented by Auckland Festival.
By arrangement with Playmarket.

The PANNZ national tour will be followed later this year with shows at Tauranga Arts Festival (19-20 Oct) and Court Theatre in Christchurch (25 Oct - 11 Nov).