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EDUCATION PACK

Contents

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Subsidised school matinees are made possible by a grant from

SYNOPSIS

KEY IDEAS

CHARACTERS

AN INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR COLIN McCOLL

AN INTERVIEW WITH PLAYWRIGHT BRIAR GRACE-SMITH

CHOREOGRAPHY

DANCE MOTIFS - Bullfights, Owls, Flamenco

DETAIL BY DESIGN

THE REAL PANIORA

RESOURCES AND USEFUL LINKS

ABOUT ATC EDUCATION

CURRICULUM LINKS

PLEASE NOTE: • Schools’ performances are followed by a Q&A Forum lasting for 20 – 30 minutes in the theatre immediately after the performance.

ATC Education also thanks the ATC Patrons and the ATC Supporting Acts for their ongoing generosity.

CREDITS

• Eating and drinking in the auditorium is strictly prohibited. • Please make sure all cell phones are turned off prior to the performance and, if possible, please don’t bring school bags to the theatre.

VENUE:

MAIDMENT THEATRE, ALFRED STREET, AUCKLAND CITY

SCHOOL PERFORMANCES: Thursday 3 April and Thursday 10 April at 11am RUNNING TIME:

2 hours including an interval.

SUITABILITY:

This production is especially suitable for Year Levels 11 - 13 students.

ADVISORY:

Contains occasional use of strong language.

• Photography or recording of any kind is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. 2

Cast Nancy Brunning — Te Mamaenui Kirk Torrance — Jimmy Hotai Miriam Smith — Maria Martinez Calvin Tuteao — Theo Rameka Hera Dunleavy — Terry Hotai Keporah Torrance — Bonita Barnie Duncan — Esteban Valdez Taiaroa Royal — Whatupo Taiaroa Royal, Lisa Greenfield, Eddie Elliott, Kosta Bogoievski, Jared Hemopo, Arahi Easton — Dancers

Creative Colin McColl — Director Taane Mete — Choreographer Sean Coyle — Set Designer Nic Smillie — Costume Designer Jane Hakaraia — Lighting Designer Eden Mulholland — Sound Designer Hemi Hoskins — Haka Composer Hohepa Waitoa — Haka Choreographer

Production Paul Nicoll — Technical & Production Manager Fern Christie-Birchall — Company Manager Lauryn Wati — Stage Manager Rachel Marlow — Technical Operator Penny Pratt — Wardrobe Supervisor Natasha Pearl — Props Master 2Construct — Set Construction

Education Pack Amber McWilliams — Writer Lynne Cardy — Editor Stephen A'Court — Production Images Claire Flynn — Graphic Design Design images courtesy of Sean Coyle 4

SYNOPSIS Matriarch Te Mamaenui heads a family of Paniora – New Zealand Māori descended from a Spaniard called Papa Carlitos. She rules her son, Jimmy Hotai, his wife Terry, and Jimmy’s daughter Bonita, but does not trust them to carry on the spirit of the Paniora after her death. Trying to impress her, Jimmy proposes a bullfight to celebrate the restoration of the family homestead. However, his neighbours, Theo and Maria Rameka, are reluctant to lend their bull. (Maria left the Paniora to marry Theo.) Jimmy’s chosen matador, a Spaniard named Esteban, arrives. All is not right in the community. Someone is destroying Theo and Maria’s fences. Maria refuses to go to Esteban’s welcome party. Theo wants a child, but Maria has buried two babies and won’t try again. Esteban interrupts Bonita learning Spanish and teases her. Jimmy complains about Bonita working for Theo, and that Maria’s Paniora land will be bequeathed to Theo (who is not Paniora). Bonita mocks Esteban’s matador skills as he tries (unsuccessfully) to ask her out. Esteban dances at his party. Jimmy tries to talk to Te Mamaenui, but she only wants to hear about his visit to Spain. Maria and Theo arrive but refuse to come inside. Esteban says Theo keeps Maria locked away. Maria accuses Jimmy of snooping round their house, then insults Terry and Theo. Te Mamaenui says Esteban sees Maria’s guilt; she protests she’s done nothing wrong. Te Mamaenui reveals the family history: Maria was born to continue the Paniora, and matched to Jimmy from childhood. However, Maria refused the marriage. Te Mamaenui gave her a shawl from her Spanish chest 6

KEY IDEAS to give her whatever she wished for. Maria chose freedom and left the family. After the party, Jimmy finds Maria on the cliffs. They make love, watched by Bonita and the bull. Next morning, Terry accuses Jimmy of lying about his “trips”. He makes confused excuses. Bonita lies for him; Terry accepts the lie and leaves. Bonita confronts Jimmy. He reveals other lies: most importantly, that no-one had heard of Papa Carlitos in the Spanish village. Six weeks later, Maria comes to ask Te Mamaenui for an abortion. Te Mamaenui says Maria’s destiny is to bear Jimmy’s child. Jimmy and Theo arrive; Theo accuses Jimmy of butchering his stock, and sleeping with Maria. Theo and Jimmy fight. Theo forgives Maria, but leaves her. There is a stampede of bulls. Bonita catches Esteban stealing from Te Mamaenui’s Spanish chest. He tells her he is leaving before the bullfight. She tranquilises him, dresses in Spanish costume and becomes the Matador. She kills the bull. Maria disappears from the clifftops; Te Mamaenui refuses to believe Maria would commit suicide. Jimmy tells Te Mamaenui of Bonita’s conquest of the bull; Te Mamaenui refuses to acknowledge Bonita’s strength.

IDENTITY: Each character faces the question of who they are and where they really belong. What is most important in their history and their current situation in defining their identity? Where do their primary loyalties lie? STORIES AND SECRETS: Storytelling is a big part of the play, and of Māori and Spanish culture. Each story tells a bit more about the homestead’s past, and about the family. Sometimes storytellers are cut off because someone else doesn’t want a particular story told – Jimmy and Te Mamaenui both shut down Bonita’s storytelling. Some stories turn out to be untrue or ambiguous, like Jimmy’s story of Papa’s visit to Spain and his death.

“When someone tells a story a hundred times, they’re usually trying to talk themselves into believing it…”

ANIMAL SYMBOLS: The owl, representing wisdom and prophesy, appears at the beginning and end. It shows Te Mamaenui’s stubbornness – she only believes the first story it tells, not the second, because the second is not what she wants to hear. The bull, symbol of strength, freedom and the Spanish connection, is the way the true inheritor of Paniora is identified. FAMILY LOYALTY: Standing by your family is hugely important for Māori and Spanish communities. Te Mamaenui is upset by people leaving: her father, dying too soon; her children, gone to Australia; Maria, leaving to marry Theo instead of honouring the family by marrying Jimmy. Maria says “I should do this for Paniora – but I can’t.” Each character faces a conflict between what’s best for the family and what’s best for them as an individual.

– Bonita, in Paniora!

Characters

Te Mamaenui is the Kuia/Abuela

Jimmy Hotai is Te Mamaenui’s

Theo Rameka is a man from a

Maria Rameka is Te Mamaenui’s

of the homestead – the head of the family – and demands respect. She’s stubborn, refusing to accept facts that don’t suit her. For instance, she calls Maria “Martinez” rather than “Rameka”, and believes Maria must carry the spirit of Paniora despite Maria’s refusal. Though Te Mamaenui loves Jimmy and Bonita, she doesn’t have faith in them.

grandson. He wants to prove himself to the family, which is why he organises the bullfight. He is dismissive of non-Paniora, even his own wife Terry, saying Terry has no claim to their land. He loved, and still desires, Maria Martinez.

mountain tribe, who feels out of place among the Paniora. He adores his wife Maria and does everything he can to make her happy, including trying to keep the peace in her family and building a large house on her land. However, he has integrity, and when he discovers Maria is unfaithful, he leaves with dignity.

granddaughter, who left the Paniora to find her own way in the world. She married Theo Rameka to spite her family but is genuinely trying to stay loyal to him. She is insecure and tries to impress her family with her big house and good husband. Inside she is still wild and passionate, and her wilfulness continues to come through.

Terry Hotai is Jimmy’s third wife. She

Bonita is Jimmy’s daughter by his first

Esteban Valdez is the outsider

WHATUPO - The Owl is Te

is a peacemaker, trying to heal the ruptures in the family by cooking Spanish food and offering complements. Often her kindnesses are ignored or rejected, so she tends to be upset and can get vindictive to try to get her point heard.

wife. She cares about the homestead, the family and the past, and wants to heal the family by telling the hidden stories. She is Te Mamaenui’s closest caregiver, but Te Mamaenui refuses to see Bonita’s fiery spirit and fighting skills.

who shows up the family conflicts. He is a player, flattering all the women and showing off with his dancing and his fake bullfighting skills. However, he sees through the family’s bravado – he knows they are pretending as much as he is – and plans to leave before the bullfight comes to pass.

Mamaenui’s sister owl that she’s always talked to. Both a friend and the kaitiaki, the guardian, to the old lady. They’re a couple of gossips, really. Te Mamaenui will take on from her sister what she wants to hear, and then shoo her away when she gives bad news.

"the challenge and the thrill of it…" Director Colin McColl answers some questions about the process and the production. once real and imagined – a world that combines myth and magic realism with the mundane. That’s a potent and highly theatrical mix.

What will be the overall “style” of this production?

What appealed about this story? When I first read Briar’s story treatment I had no idea that the Paniora existed – I didn’t even know what the word meant! I was surprised to find, when I Googled the term, the Paniora website, which described a thriving and very proud East Coast hapū, with strong links to Spain and more than 16,000 descendants. Briar’s play took imaginative and theatrical leaps with that extraordinary story, and through it is also Briar’s personal investigation of Paniora in her own Ngā Puhi family history. Paniora! is an ATC Literary commission. ATC Literary Manager Philippa Campbell and I were keen to get Briar writing for the stage again after almost ten years working exclusively in film and television. She’s undoubtedly one of our best playwrights: a superb story-teller, with plays like Purapurawhetu, When Sun And Moon Collide and Haruru Mai (I directed the premiere production of the latter for the 2000 NZ Festival of the Arts) to her credit.

What do you see as the strengths of the play? Its characters. Its eloquence of language, and its slyly wicked humour. When I picked up the first draft I was immediately drawn into a world at

We don’t deliberately go for an overall style. Style is a label someone else might choose to put on it. I just respond to the demands of the text and try to honour those in a theatrically satisfying way. However, I think it’s fair to say this is not a ‘kitchen-sink’ naturalistic drama!

What do you identify as the play’s key thematic concerns? • How the past informs the present (this, of course, is paramount in Māori cultural beliefs). • Heritage – how much we value it and how we express what it means to us. • The ability or inability to accept change. • The conflict between responsibility and free will. • The ties of family. • The physical, mental and social cost of unfulfilled longings.

You’ve described the play as ‘operatic’ – in what sense? Situations and characters in the Paniora story are highly charged. There are moments of extreme emotion and ecstasy as it moves from the everyday into magic realism and myth. It’s partly Chekhov, partly opera – and the dance in the piece gives it an altogether different texture. It is its own unique beast. And that’s the challenge and the thrill of it.

What role does music play? Music is an integral design element of the production. It establishes cultural identity, creates mood, reveals character traits and supports the dance.

The play crosses three language traditions. How do actors handle the multiple languages? How do you think audiences will respond to this element? Māori and Spanish and English all feature in Paniora! Luckily we have Māori and Spanish speakers in the cast, and the vowel sounds between those two languages are very similar so it hasn’t been a problem. There were Spanish-speaking audience members at our workshop production 18 months ago who were amazed at how adept our actors were, but it is all part of their job and the skills they need. If your character has a line in Spanish, you learn to speak it correctly. I believe that if an actor’s intentions are clear enough, the audience will get the gist of what is being said and there’s nothing crucial in the text that isn’t explained somewhere in English as well.

Tell us about the mythical quality of the show – particularly the animals. The bull is a very strong symbol in Paniora! Bull mythology exists throughout the Mediterranean and there is whole mythological, religious and cultural aura around bull-fighting, especially in Spain. Briar, the cast and I have found On Bullfighting, the book by Scottish writer A L Kennedy, an excellent resource.

You’re working with Taane Mete as the choreographer on this production. How does the director/ choreographer relationship work? Any particular challenges in integrating dance?

challenge for both Taane and I has been to find a language to work together. Actors in textbased theatre work with feelings, objectives and words. Dancers work with space, body and physical dynamics. We have really been exploring ways to meld these different approaches to reveal hidden layers within the story. One of the delights for me has been to see the dancers improvise around an idea – and how quickly other dancers can learn that movement sequence. Astonishing! There have been scheduling complications which have meant very limited time together for dancers and actors. Also I am happy to incorporate sound design very late in the rehearsal process – when I am sure of the mood and tempo of the scenes – but of course dancers need the sound much earlier to set the choreography.

Talking Points • Colin says that style is “a label someone else might choose” to apply to the production. If you had to define the style of Paniora!, what label might you choose and why? • What do you make of the description “partly Chekov, partly opera”? Using your knowledge of these two forms, identify how elements of each inform Paniora! • Colin identifies four roles that music plays in this production. Choose one of these and describe how this works in practice in the production. When in the play is music used for this purpose? How effectively does it work? • How did you respond to the multiple languages in the text? Was the “gist” clear even when you didn’t understand the words?

The bullfighting and flamenco are clearly important ritual elements in this story… One of the characters in Paniora!, Esteban Valdez, is of gypsy descent. Flamenco is the dance and music and song of Spanish gypsies, which became widespread in Spain. Our actors and dancers have had regular classes in flamenco (with its particular rhythms and moves) and Taane, our choreographer, has created a unique blend of haka and flamenco for the Paniora. The bullfight Briar has written into the play is perhaps more challenging… but the way it has been solved through dance actually sets off very interesting depth charges of emotional discovery for characters in the play.

This is the first time I’ve worked with a choreographer on a non-musical production. A

Playwright Briar Grace-Smith talked to Amber McWilliams about… THE GENESIS OF THE PANIORA STORY Paniora! springs from Briar Grace-Smith’s lifelong interest in things Spanish. “I was told when I was a child that we had a Spanish ancestor. That idea grew bigger and bigger in my childish imagination: thinking about who he was, what he did, and what brought him here.” She has never followed up by researching this link, feeling that the real story “couldn’t possibly be any better than what I imagined! At the very worst it might not be true – I’d say it was, but there’s always that fear.” “Following stories about that ancestor, I learnt about the Paniora. My husband is from the East Coast, and is affiliated to their family, and I was really inspired by their stories, and also the stories of other Māori families around New Zealand who have descended from [other cultures] how they’ve held on to that whakapapa, whether it be Spanish or Dalmatian or French, and kind of integrated it into their own culture. It’s creating something that is quite unique.” However, Briar has been careful to keep her play firmly fictional, despite its historical grounding. “Once you start involving the real people… you’ll never actually get their story right. For me, it’s harder to go that way. Because Paniora! is fiction, I’ve been able to take ideas to an extreme - because these people are extreme!” 14

She says “I hope the response from the Paniora is positive, because ultimately it is a positive story; it’s about a people who are proud of who they are and are moving forward with their culture and igniting the spark again. I hope they understand I am inspired by them and not trying to tell their story. Paniora, the word, literally just means ‘Spanish’ in Māori, so it’s quite a generic term, but it is a term that (as happens) gets owned by a group and they do have very strong connections to it.”

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE Briar doesn’t actually speak Spanish. “You know what? I did look up words on the internet, but I know through people hashing up Māori translations that it’s not something I’d ever put into the script!” As part of the development process, ATC brought in a Spaniard who “talked us through not just the language, but the dialectal differences, and helped us define where in Spain these characters might have come from, because that influences their way of talking…” The cast brings its own expertise in the form of “the wonderful Barnie Duncan, who is playing the character of Esteban; he’s also helped a lot with translations and culture.” Is he Spanish? “No, but he’s fluent, and he’s lived in Spain, and he’s very passionate about making that authentic.” 15

Part of this authenticity, ironically, is not making the Spanish language too ‘correct’. “We also have to remember that this character – the ancestor – came and lived in that town many generations ago, so language does change. There is a certain flexibility. Not everyone is fluent; some have learnt out of books, and Google, and the older ones are more fluent and have retained a kind of purity of language. Bonita’s there learning from her iPod, and then there’s Terry; I don’t know where she’s learnt her Spanish, but hers isn’t extremely developed. She’s probably typical of many people in her view of what Spain might be like; when we don’t know much we just hold on to what’s in front of our faces or what we’ve heard.“ Hence the mistaken belief that tacos are traditional Spanish kai!

THEMES AND IDEAS What were the key themes Briar GraceSmith wanted to explore in this play? “I guess identity would be the main one – you could probably say that about any play that I write, so it’s an easy answer!” She laughs. “It’s ‘who are we? who am I?’ and ‘where do I fit?’ and the idea of culture being - especially as the world gets smaller - something that moves and changes; it’s not as black and white as it used to be.” After a moment’s thought she adds: “The other thing is traditional versus new beliefs. And leadership: who are our leaders? I guess an idea I wanted to explore, in Māoridom in particular, was the part that women play within the culture. I think women are often the backbone of the iwi, and I think the play’s quite clear about that. Even though they’re looking

for a man, or a male child, to take over the role of leader, all the time the women are actually being the leaders.”

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SETTING

The play also shows the tension between collective and individual responsibility, particularly in the character of Maria, who refuses to lead the Paniora “because she doesn’t want to be tied down. To be honest, I think that’s a problem that a lot of people come up against. ‘If I do that, that’s me over as an individual.’” Becoming a servant to the wider community has its own rewards, surely? “Yes, but it’s not for everyone.” The tension provides an interesting frission in the play.

Place and environment play a huge role in Briar’s writing, and in this play the East Coast setting is very important. “It’s not where I was brought up, so I’ve got – what’s the word? not separation – it’s like a respect for it, because it’s not my land.” However, the place is very familiar, as she visits with her family at least once a year. “I know the landscape, and I love the landscape. I think it’s epic and powerful and in summer when it’s hot and dry, it’s dry and hot! What all those people are going through during the play – that heat, which is so different from what you might get in the far North, for example, which is more like a tropical humidity… The East Coast heat is unrelenting, you know.” She also describes the sense of expansiveness. “When you look out from where my husband’s father comes from – a place called Tuparoa – the next land mass is South America. It’s that expanse of sea… there’s nothing in front of your eyes but sea and sky. So that is kind of explored in the play as well; people always looking out to sea and wondering what is out there.”

Briar has previously claimed that she writes about “the underdogs – those are the characters that interest me.” So how true is that of this play? Briar explains: “A lot of these characters are privileged. All of the characters in this play have got a place in the world, and they have a home … I’m not saying they’re rich, but they’re middle-class, so they are different from some of the characters I’ve written about before who are on the back foot in many ways. But they are still overlooked: Bonita is overlooked. The power of that character, and her strength, is overlooked. Whether people know it is there or not, they’re refusing to acknowledge it.” Thinking about it, she feels that these characters are more emotional underdogs than socio-economic ones. For instance, she considers Jimmy Hotai an underdog “even though in some ways he’s quite a privileged person – he’s a landowner and he’s kind of the leader of his people – but he’s overlooked by the person he wants to please the most.”

When writing, she doesn’t see the actors on a set: “I envision them on the land! This is why Colin McColl despairs over me. I say ‘the bull is just going to walk on stage’, because in my mind I’m seeing a real bull… Colin goes ‘now I have to make this work – on a stage’.” Briar has had the opportunity to be involved in design discussions as the play is developed. “Colin sends me updates and pictures, and I have every opportunity to respond… I have always just loved everything I’ve

seen.” Sean Coyle, designer for this production, designed the set for Briar’s first play. “He’s done a lovely thing, where there are elements of the set he designed for Nga Pou Wahine that he’s brought into this set. Maybe he didn’t do it intentionally, but I’m making the connection and I really like it.” The po posts are the example she uses… “They’re used in a different way, but they are representative of the same thing, which is I think the ancestors who are always around.”

TRANSITIONS AND TRADITIONS Briar’s plays now feature more jumps and fluidity in their structure, which she attributes to time spent writing for other media. “I have been influenced by film, I do know that. I know that the transitions now are never black and white, and that the transitions are something that the director and the actors, as much as myself, need to figure out.” This provides director Colin McColl with a challenge, Briar admits with a laugh! But, she says “now we’ve got these dancers, he’s using them a lot in the transitions.” Briar is hugely excited to have Okareka Dance Company involved in the production. “The dance adds a deeper resonance. The danger was it was going to overstate everything, but what it does is adds another layer. It’s quite wonderful.” As an example, in the bullfight the young girl is taking on a bull “made up of six male dancers. Sometimes they’re individuals and sometimes they’re all one bull. But they’re all coming at her and when I watched it, it reminded me of growing up as a young woman and just dealing 17

with the boys! Having to make your way through those sorts of situations... That wouldn’t have come across had she just been on film fighting a real bull.”

We are magpies; we really are. Sometimes the story can be just too good not to tell, and we will do that regardless and think about the consequences later.”

Okareka is also bringing the character of the owl to life. The owl is played by Taiaroa Royal, and he plays a very comical, gossipy kind of owl. It’s lovely; it’s not serious, it brings an element of lightness and humour that wouldn’t have been there if it hadn’t been played by a dancer. They’re like sisters. It’s not a tapu thing; they’re like a couple of gossips, really.”

Within the relatively small NZ theatre community, Briar does find herself casting in her head; she admits she wrote with Nancy Brunning in mind for the role. “It’s really helpful to know the actor… But in saying that, sometimes a new actor that you haven’t worked with will just give the character something you haven’t expected – change the voice of a character but in a really delightful way.”

BEING A WRITER Despite strong Māori stories and using Māori mythology, Briar doesn’t feel pressure to be a ‘representative’ Māori playwright. Rather, the subjects of her plays “are things that have been hanging around and that I’m interested in. More often than not they’re Māori stories, because I’m Māori – that’s where it comes from and that’s the way it is.” She was discussing with fellow playwright Ken Duncum the more general challenge of being a writer: “we are constantly having to be brave, because any story we tell… it’s easy to find reasons why we can’t tell it, or shouldn’t tell it, or worry about what people with think, and that is true whether you’re Māori or not.”

Does Briar have any idiosyncratic writing habits? “I find when I’m walking it’s like a meditation, and slowly the story comes back to me and new ideas form. Walking is a real way to inspire me and inspire ideas, and by the time I get back I’m usually ready to go forth with the work again.”

Talking Points • The play is a work of fiction ‘inspired’ by a real group of people. What is your response to this kind of ‘fictionalisation’? What are the risks and rewards of this approach? • The playwright touches on “traditional versus new beliefs” as an important idea. Which characters represent tradition, and which the new? How do these positions conflict? • Look at the transitions between ‘scenes’ in Paniora! How are they written? How are such transitions achieved in production? What techniques are used to indicate changes in location or time? • Briar Grace-Smith says Jimmy Hotai is “overlooked by the person he wants to please the most.” Who do you think is she is referring to? Justify your answer with textual evidence. • To what extent is Paniora! “a Māori play”? What might define this term, and what relevance (if any) does it have in the 21st century?

So has she had any instances of people recognising themselves in her stories? “My father-in-law but he laughed about it. I had a moment with my brother, who believed one of the characters represented him – it didn’t, but some of the yarns the character spun were pig-hunting stories, and I’d kind of picked them up from him. 18

Choreographer Taane Mete: “physicality to really drive an idea” Taane Mete says that choreographing dance for a drama is very different from creating a straight dance piece. “The writing has been done – and also I’m working in collaboration with Colin McColl, so there are different layers. I am part of the framework, but it’s coming from different angles. The staging and drama are very different to a fully choreographic piece that’s pure dance. I’m enjoying it – it’s a great challenge.” Elements of Spanish and Māori dance add to the texture of the movement in Paniora!. Taane says he’s adapted a lot of what has been contributed by Chloe, the dancer who has been tutoring the performers in flamenco. “Chloe has been wonderful in terms of being able to give a pure Spanish feel… I’m able to take what she offers and place it in a very different way on the performers.” In terms of the Māori aspect, Taane has chosen not to use direct references to kapa haka. Instead, “the movement has come from a Māori background in using essential Māori motifs. The pukana comes through, but it’s not a straight pukana: strong push to the front, poke out your tongue and roll your eyes.” Rather, the spirit of the pukana is indicated by a dancer’s positioning or their facial expression. Likewise, the haka stance is suggested by a dancer dropping their pelvis towards the ground. As Taane puts it, “I haven’t gone for the obvious, clichéd kapa haka movements, because people are looking for a different kind of performance in this context.” 20

The dancers are being used at transitional moments in the show. “That derives from this idea that they are kind of spirit people: they are not quite human, they’re not quite spiritual. They’re in the realm of in-between. This in-betweeness is a way we’re able to shape-shift their movement on and off the stage, and also give an idea that they are both earthly and unearthly.” This, Taane explains, offers “a different texture of movement” that recurs throughout the entire work. “So the dancers are being used for their skills – being able to adapt very quickly and get on and off the floor very quickly – and actually required to use their physicality to really drive an idea.” Sound and movement are developed together. “Because this is a new work, many factors come in to that equation. I’ve got to have something for Eden [Mulholland, the sound designer] to look at. I like to get a little bit – or quite a lot! – of physicality happening and then I bring Eden in, and I say ‘well, this is what I’ve got. This is the idea. I need an organic, spiritual, tribal feel’ or ‘it needs to feel like the sound is rolling over hills or in the sky or rumbling from the earth.’ He takes all these different words, as well as what he’s seen physically, and then he’s able to create this wonderful soundscape for us.” There is a lot of responsiveness and flexibility involved in the process. In the rehearsal room, as Taane points out, “we haven’t got the actual set; we’ve got a make-shift ‘float’ in space.” This enables the performers to get a sense of how the set will work: “they get an idea of ‘this many steps to get from 21

here to here’.” However, Taane is quick to point out that the dancers need to remain flexible in every sense. “Because it’s live theatre, things can be created until the last split second. What I’m doing now is building a lot of material: that’s happening now in rehearsal, but that’s not to say that once I get

to the theatre and see it in the space, I can’t go ‘oh, that looks like rubbish, I have to cut half of that’ or ‘that doesn’t work, let’s go for another angle’. Then I might condense it or stretch it out… There’s still a lot of flexibility in the process.”

OKAREKA DANCE COMPANY Auckland Theatre Company is delighted to work alongside Okareka Dance Company to create Paniora! Led by Taane Mete and Taiaroa Royal, Okareka has become one of New Zealand’s most sought after and prolific dance companies. Formed in 2007, Okareka fuses contemporary dance with Maori themes and other genres to create authentic, diverse works. Okareka holds its provenance close

to its heart. The company strives to tell bold, spiritual stories that are of and from New Zealand. Through careful collaboration the company seeks to extend its creativity and its influence by engaging experienced artists from around the globe – the sole driver – to create evocative, beautiful dance works that tell a story. Okareka is a company guided by Maori beliefs. These beliefs are brought to its work and its audiences.

Talking Points • What suggestions of kapa haka movement did you recognise in Paniora!, if any? How were they stylised or scaled back so as not to be direct representations of kapa haka? • What similarities could you see between the “Spanish-y, flamenco-y feel” and Māori dance? • How does an owl move? How does a gossipy old woman move? How do these movement elements combine to create the character of the owl in this production? • What were your favourite “stage pictures” from this production? Why did you find them impressive or evocative? • Choose a moment of high emotion from the play and enact it purely with movement. How does this compare to the scripted scene? What is lost and what is gained? 22

Dance Motifs Bullfights A bullfight has three distinct ‘acts’. In the first, the Tercio de Varas, picadors on horses charge the bull with lances, weakening it with stab wounds. In the Tercio de Banderillas, the bull is stabbed in the shoulders with spiked banderillas (“little flags”) to weaken it further. In the Tercio de Muerte (Third of Death), the matador de toros (killer of bulls) uses his red cape to encourage the bull to charge him, and finally stabs it in the heart with his sword. The whole process is highly stylised and formal, with the rules and patterns of a dance. Female toreros (bullfighters) are rare, and their participation has been generally unpopular in Spain.

Owls “… in Māori mythology, Ruru, which hunts by night on silent wings and has a melancholy hooting call, is associated with the spirit world. In fact, the special ancestral spirit

of a family group is thought to take the form of Ruru. Known as Hine-ruru, the “owl woman”, Māori traditionally believed that these owl guardians had the power to protect, warn and advise. According to such beliefs, the presence of a morepork sitting in a conspicuous place nearby, knocking on a window or even entering the house signifies a death the family, while the high piercing call of the morepork is thought to herald bad news and the ordinary call to indicate good news on the way.” nzbirds.com

Flamenco Flamenco is traditional music and dance style from Andalucia in Spain. It is often performed by Romani (or ‘Gitanos’ – what we would call ‘gypsies’). Flamenco has four components: cante (singing), toque (guitar playing), baile (dance) and palmas (handclaps). It is dramatic and sensual, with the handclapping and finger-snapping adding a strong rhythmic component.

Talking Points • How does an owl move? How does a gossipy old woman move? How do these movement elements combine to create the character of the owl in this production? • What were your favourite “stage pictures” from this production? Why did you find them impressive or evocative?

Detail by Design Designer Sean Coyle has had to design his set for two theatres: Soundings Theatre in Wellington and Maidment Theatre in Auckland. “Fortunately the two spaces are not dissimilar in size and scale, which is good… they’re both end-on, proscenium stages, with a similar proscenium arch width and a similar depth. There are a few possible issues; we’ve had to deal with things like where we can fit the cyclorama in terms of actors walking around behind – having crossover behind the set. “The set design is very stylised. We’ve wanted to create a space that was a number of different spaces, taking a thematic approach. Most of the play happens within a circle on the floor, and my inspiration for that was the bull-rings in Spain. Included in that circle we’re using elements like sand, to reference the bull-ring, but also the East Coast of New Zealand, where the play is set. “We have a structure at the back which is a curved sort of ramp which goes around at the back of the stage; it acts as a ramp and also represents a cliff-face that goes around a bay. It is very much about coastal East Coast New Zealand, but it’s also about rural New Zealand, referencing rural sheds and structures but in quite an abstract way. It will be a metal structure. I was inspired by the sculptor Richard Serra, who does very similar metal structures – there’s an amazing one at the Gibb’s farm – using that sort of rusted texture as well. 26

“In terms of all the colours, it’s finding the connection between the New Zealand and the Spanish. When I first read Briar’s play, I thought ‘this is great, it’s like a New Zealand Māori Lorca play’ – you know, it has the same passion and themes that you find in Lorca, but it is firmly planted on the East Coast of New Zealand.” Hence the strong colour used throughout the design. Not all of the script’s locations are explicitly included in the design. For instance, Sean says, “they reference ‘the house of many windows’ all throughout the play, and we don’t have a house of many windows… that is being done through the actors and how they embody the space. We’re using minimal furniture – plain chairs – and the structure once again. We will be using lighting shifts to look at changing the architecture, changing the feeling, delineating interior and exterior.

‘clifftop’. The dancers will also probably make use of this additional level. Sean explains that “Taane was very excited about exploring that space... Dancers approach space and set design very differently to actors – they’re much more tactile – so it will be interesting to see how they use it. They want to climb it, see how

their body interacts with it and the space that they’re in.” Sean is looking forward to watching these explorations and seeing how the performance develops the set’s possibilities.

Talking Points • What was your initial impression of the set? Did any of the key elements immediately suggest the designer’s stated intentions (for instance, the bull-ring or the cliffs around the bay)? How did the performer’s use of the space increase the meaning of the set elements? • Sean identifies colour as a key way of making a connection between the Spanish and New Zealand culture and environment. What colour palette has he used to achieve this? What do the strongly featured colours suggest to you in relation to the play’s main ideas? • Choose one of Sean’s influences (for instance, Richard Serra or the Māori po) and research it in more depth. What resonances are there between the original influence and the final set design?

“The other element I’ve used in my design is a series of very tall posts, or po, surrounding the circular space. They serve a number of functions; one of them is they represent po within a meeting house, which also represents the ancestors surrounding them, but at the same time they’re like trees surrounding the geography that they’re in.” The curved structure has a walkway, so the actors can walk up it; Maria will mount the cliffs in her final scene to stand on the

The real Paniora Briar Grace-Smith’s Paniora! is a meld of history and myth, based on a real group of New Zealand Māori who trace their ancestry to Spain. The 16,000 people who identify as Paniora descend from a Spanish whaler and trader, Manuel Jose de Frutos Huerta, who arrived on the remote East Coast of New Zealand in 1835. He abandoned whaling, established a trading post in Awanui, and found an affinity with the local Māori, eventually marrying five Māori women simultaneously. Manuel had nine sons, 41 grandsons and almost 300 greatgrandsons; many of his descendants still bear the surname Manuel.

know that Manuel came from Valverde del Majano in Segovia until 2006. Since then, several groups of Paniora have made the trip to Valverde, and Valverde and Gisborne have become sister cities. The Māori visitors received a positive reception; an official from Valverde said the village was "nervous and excited" by the idea of starting down a "long road of friendship and cooperation" with the Paniora. The Paniora are very proud of their dual cultural history. There is a Facebook page specifically for Manuel-Jose descendants, and a book, Olive Branches, details the family tree.

The Paniora of Ngati Porou have always known their Spanish ancestry, but did not

Talking Points • Brainstorm everything you know about Spanish culture. What are the most familiar and prominent icons? Which of these are also present in Māori or Pakeha culture, and which seem completely ‘foreign’? How are the cultural values underlying them similar or different? • Look at the photos at http://www.porahu.com/valverde/ What resonances can you see between the Spanish and Māori cultures in these images? • How much influence does your own cultural history have on your day-to-day life? Discuss your ancestry and cultural inheritance – is it a major factor in how your family lives? If it is important, why? If not, why not? • Bring in an object that represents your cultural roots (such as the shawl in Paniora!). Which objects have meaning for the group, and which are so far outside the shared cultural context that they need to be explained? Dramatise a cultural exchange involving two or more of these objects. 28

Additional Resources and Links “Briar Grace-Smith.” Playmarket New Zealand. http://www.playmarket.org.nz/playwrights/briar-grace-smith Publication date unknown. Accessed 03.02.2014. Web. “Briar Grace-Smith – The Paniora Play.” Sunday Morning. Radio New Zealand National. http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2574248/briar-gracesmith-the-paniora-play Original broadcast on, 27 October 2013. Accessed 03.02.2014. Web/Audio. Derby, Mark. “Paniora – the Spanish New Zealanders.” Te Ara – Signposts. http://blog.teara.govt.nz/2009/07/02/paniora-the-spanish-new-zealanders/ Published 2.07.2009. Accessed 29.01.2014. Web. “Family Reunion – Valverde 2007.” Personal website. http://www.porahu.com/valverde/ Published 2007. Accessed 04.202.2014. Web. Hopkins, Renata. “Interview with Briar Grace-Smith.” Turbine 03. New Zealand Electronic Text Collection http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/iiml/turbine/Turbi03/interview/N11BEF.html Published 2003. Accessed 03.02.2014. Web. Eagles, Alex. “Ruru – the morepork.” nzbirds.com. http://nzbirds.com/birds/ruru.html Published 17 October 2010. Accessed 04.02.2014. Web. “Paniora explores Spanish-Māori East Coast ancestry.” Te Karere, TVNZ. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFH8-sqkkYI Accessed 29.01.2014. Web.

ABOUT ATC EDUCATION

CURRICULUM LINKS

ATC Education promotes and encourages teaching and participation in theatre and acts as a resource for secondary and tertiary educators. It is a comprehensive and innovative education programme designed to nurture young theatre practitioners and future audiences.

ATC Education activities relate directly to the PK, UC and CI strands of the NZ Curriculum from levels 5 to 8. They also have direct relevance to many of the NCEA achievement standards at all three levels.

ATC Education has direct contact with secondary school students throughout the greater Auckland region with a focus on delivering an exciting and popular programme that supports the Arts education of Auckland students and which focuses on curriculum development, literacy and the Arts. Auckland Theatre Company acknowledges that the experiences enjoyed by the youth of today are reflected in the vibrancy of theatre in the future.

All secondary school Drama students (Years 9 to 13) should be experiencing live theatre as a part of their course work, Understanding the Arts in Context. Curriculum levels 6, 7 and 8 (equivalent to years 11, 12 and 13) require the inclusion of New Zealand drama in their course of work. The NCEA external examinations at each level (Level 1 – AS90011, Level 2 – AS91219, Level 3 – AS91518) require students to write about live theatre they have seen. Students who are able to experience fully produced, professional theatre are generally advantaged in answering these questions.

“Paniora go back to source of their Spanish roots.” Rotorua Daily Post. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rotorua-daily-post/news/article.cfm?c_ id=1503438&objectid=11071784 Published 14.08.2012. Accessed 29.01.2014. Web. Roy, Eleanor Ainge. “Gisborne’s Spanish Reunion.” stuff.co.nz – Fairfax Media. http://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/features/4471085/Gisbornes-Spanish-reunion Published 19.12.2010. Accessed 29.01.2013. Web. Wong, Gilbert. “Theatrical Food for thought.” The New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=171941&pnum=0 Published 12.02.2001. Accessed 03.02.2014. Web.

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