THE HAKA PARTY INCIDENT ANNOUNCES NEW AND AUDIO DESCRIBED PERFORMANCES FOR NATIONAL TOUR
The full house at Te Pou Theatre rose to a standing ovation at the opening of the Haka Party Incident in Tāmaki Makaurau last week. This is the first stop on a seven-centre national tour which is now on sale with an extra season at Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival from July 4 -5, 2023.
The Performing Arts Network of New Zealand (PANNZ) are delighted to announce that in addition to Tāmaki Makaurau, all performances on the PANNZ leg of the tour in Pōneke, Rotorua, Te Tairāwhiti and Ngā Motu are offering a touch tour and audio described performance for the low vision community.
Audio Described Aotearoa are thrilled to be able to provide audio description for these centres thanks to funding from Manatū Taonga. Director Nicola Owen says: "We are passionate about Māori audio describers bringing the world of Māori arts to blind and low vision audiences across Aotearoa. No one should miss out on understanding history and culture due to lack of access and we hope that this is the start of blind people feeling welcome in theatres across the motu.”
In 1979 University of Auckland engineering students, rehearsing their annual tradition of a mock haka, were confronted by the activist group He Taua. That confrontation led to the nation’s baptism of fire into addressing systemic racism.
Provocative, resonant, and joyfully unforgettable, writer and director Katie Wolfe’s (Ngāti Mutunga, Ngāti Tama, Ngāti Toa Rangatira) The Haka Party Incident innovatively combines documentary and Kapa Haka to thrilling effect. Awarded Best Play by a Māori Playwright as well as The Dean Parker Adaptation for Non-Fiction Award, (2021 Adam New Zealand) the production is a not-to-be-missed theatre event.
“Wolfe has taken an approach reflective of the values we love most as descendants and citizens of Aotearoa: direct, inclusive, humble and with no nonsense.”
– Theatreview, June 2023
“Masterfully brings to life a bold act of resistance….intensely funny, to heartbreakingly sad in a single beat” – Theatreview
With dynamic performances from Roimata Fox (Ngāti Porou, Rongomaiwahine) (Waru, Muru), Nī Dekkers-Reihana (Ngāi Tu Te Auru, Ngā Puhi) (Waru, Anahera), Lauren Gibson (Be Longing, Anne Boleyn), Patrick Tafa (48 Nights on Hope Street, Westside), Aidan O’Malley (Bystander, Good Idea at the Time) and Kauri Williams (Ngāti Tūwharetoa) (Astroman, The Brokenwood Mysteries), the ambitious stage production requires them to divide up 38 different roles. The students, activists and many others directly involved or impacted in and by the Haka Party Incident were interviewed by writer Katie Wolfe over a two-year period. Their verbatim accounts of what actually happened in 1979 are directly voiced onstage.
Touch Tours and Audio Described performance details are as below. PANNZ, venue and festival partners are pleased to offer free companion seating for accessible patrons attending these performances:
Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland), Te Pou Theatre.
Audio Described Performance Sunday 11 June 4pm.
Full season runs 1-11 June, 2023.
Book at www.tepoutheatre.nz
Pōneke (Wellington) as part of Kia Mau Festival,
The Opera House, Manners Street: Thursday 15 June
| Backstage Touch Tour 6pm-6.30pm | Audio Described Performance: 7.30pm
To book contact Ticketmaster Accessibility line on (09) 970 9711
or email customer.service@ticketmaster.co.nz
Rotorua, The Sir Owen Glenn Theatre, Sir Howard Morrison Centre:
Wednesday 21 June | Backstage Touch Tour - Wed 21 June, 5:30-6:00pm |
Audio Described Performance: 7:00pm
To book AD tickets or Touch Tour phone 07 351 8094 or email: SHMCrequests@rotorualc.nz
Ngā Motu (New Plymouth), TSB Theatre: Wednesday 28 June
Backstage touch Tour at 5.30-6pm | Audio Described Performance: 7pm.
To book tickets call 0800 TICKETEK.
To book a place on the Touch Tour please email: ticketnp@npdc.co.nz with your name, how many people in your party, and if you have any additional access requirements.
Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival (Gisborne), Tairāwhiti War Memorial Theatre:
5th July | 6pm | Touch Tour, 5th July | 7:30pm | Audio Described Performance.
To book a place on the Touch Tour and Audio Described Performance email: marketing@ttaf.nz 06 867 4792
Full season runs 4-5 July, for all other bookings visit https://tetairawhitiartsfestival.nz/events/6548/
Other tour centres:
Tauranga Arts Festival, Baycourt Community and Arts Centre, 19-20 October 2023
On Sale: Wed 19 June at 9am through Ticketek
Otautahi (Christchurch) Court Theatre 25 October – 11 November 2023
Book at: courttheatre.org.nz