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  • Writer's pictureTE RĀKAU

Call for Māori theatre space at Te Papa

Laura Bootham for Radio New Zealand | 23 January 2016


A well-known actor and director is renewing his call for Te Papa to become the home of indigenous theatre.

 

Actors look out into the audience while they sit on all fours
Actors performing in Te Rākau theatre company's 'Dog & Bone' at Te Papa. | Aneta Pond 2016

Te Rākau theatre company director Jim Moriarty said Māori needed a base in the country's national museum where they could create works and perform for New Zealanders and tourists.


There was no dedicated space anywhere for that purpose, Mr Moriarty said.


"The ballet and opera company have homes, the New Zealand Drama school has a home, the Symphony Orchestra has a home, the jazz school has a home, on and on it goes.


"New Zealand Children's Theatre has a home - 'Māori Theatre New Zealand' does not have a home and it just seems ironic still that here we are in 2016 and tāngata whenua are the poor relations in their own land in relation to this particular matter."


Read more on Radio New Zealand.


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