Hāpaitia

Two brand new Te Ao Māori driven works from two emerging Tūwharetoa artists Parekawa Finlay & Raureti Ormond. From the life of an 1860’s coloniser through to the Tangiwai Disaster, come and experience the freshest talent from Te Whanganui-a-Tara and reflect upon the nature of simply being human and the complexities of being Māori.

An investigation of both real life events in Aotearoa and the internal colonisation of her mind. Parekawa unravels her personal journey of creating a solo work based on the life of a soldier, artist and coloniser from the 1860s. Through writing this show, she is unlearning, unmasking and freeing her mind. Horatio Robley 1864 vs Parekawa Finlay 2024!

Te Whio, the whistle, is a story of home that exhumes the untold stories of the Tangiwai Disaster. Stories of homesickness, whānau and what it means to live a life. Set on Christmas Eve 1953, a group of passengers board the Express train traveling from Te-Whanganui-A-Tara to Tāmaki Makaurau. With the tragic collapse of a railway bridge, their lives are taken in a flash. If you never got to reach your family, what would you want to say?