Hello you big wide wonderful world Kia ora ki te ao whānui whakamiharo

25th Anniversary of Woman Far Walking, 4-23 November

E ngā mana, e ngā reo, kui mā, koro mā, tamariki mā,

In a week’s time, the kuia rongonui, Tiri, aka Tiriti-o-Waitangi Mahana, begins her haerenga anew. This time she starts in Auckland, 25 years after she first began to walk at the International Festival of the Arts, Wellington, 2000. At that time she was only 160 years old. This year she will be 185. As she herself says, “Scary.”

Tiri’s journey has caused me to reflect on how grateful I am to work as a writer, in this case as a playwright, within Aotearoa’s theatre industry. I have to confess I don’t really think of myself as a playwright! All I was, was the idea-person. My mother, in the 1970s had said something to me while we were watching the news - a Māori kuia was getting a telegram from the Queen for turning a hundred - and it stuck in my brain. 30 years later when my thoughts turned to writing a play and I was looking for a character who could represent Aotearoa New Zealand history, Tiri stepped into my imagination.

”Did somebody just call my name?”

The real theatre professionals should be credited with Woman Far Walking. They took over the idea and turned my first writerly draft into a play script. Hone Kouka of Taki Rua Theatre Company agreed to produce the play and, following a preview performance of a scene by Grace Hoete, Carla Van Zon commissioned it for the New Zealand International Festival of the Arts, 2000. My friend Cathy Downes directed the play which featured Rachel House as Tiri and Rima Te Wiata as Tilly. The production toured to Auckland, Gisborne, Hastings, Whakatāne and Hamilton. At Gizzy, the hometown crowd didn’t want to let her go.

The play was subsequently presented by Taki Rua Productions in July 2001, directed by Christian Penny, featuring Rachel House again as Tiri and Nicola Kāwana as Tilly. The production toured to Taranaki, Wellington and Auckland. In 2002, Taki Rua Productions toured Woman Far Walking for the third time with my friend Tanea Heke as producer and Nancy Brunning as Tiri. The production toured to Gisborne again, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton, Palmerston North, Nelson and Manchester in the UK. A further production involved Kahu Hotere as Tiri and Riria Hotere as Tilly; there were also brief seasons at the Auckland Writers Festival and the Kia Mau Festival in Wellington.

I’m giving you the whakapapa of the production as best as I can to show that Woman Far Walking has had the generous hands of theatre royalty to help her up onto her two walking sticks to stand in front of you; it’s not easy for the kuia these days. And this time, the Auckland Theatre Company asked my colleague and friend Katie Wolfe to do the honours. She has been supported by actors Miriama McDowell and Nī Dekkers-Reihana and a crew that has given Tiri an astounding imaginative whare and setting to speak from.

Every production has been different. This one will be the most radical of all, being in both English and te reo. Tiri has a new kākahu, she looks flash as and, by the way, her reo comes from her Ringatū ancestry. What a honour to be gifted the wisdom of Ringatū wairua, karakia and prophetic utterance by my cuz Sir Haare Williams. That’s him with the writer below. Cuz, you are amazing.

There’s been quite a bit of buzz about Tiri’s arrival in Auckland. The Sunday Star Times (Sapeer Mayron, writer) put Katie and the writer on the cover of the arts section and Sam Brooks has written a preview article for The Spinoff. There’s some tv and social media around, my grateful thanks to all. While the playwright can get the play onto the page, you are the ones that get the play to the stage.

And you the audience who come to see Tiri should know she can’t wait to embrace you in her arms. You are the future.

Turuki turuki paneke paneke

Turuki turuki paneke paneke

Haramai te toki hui e,

Haumi e, taiki e.