THE JOURNEY OF HŌIHO / TE HAERENGA O HŌIHO
13/07/2016 - 16/07/2016
Production Details
A magical kids’ theatre adventure
Having previously graced Manawatu with their acclaimed productions Hoki Mai Tama Mā and SolOthello, Te Rēhia Theatre Company is returning to Centrepoint Theatre in the upcoming school holidays with their brand new children’s show Ruia te Kākano: The Journey of Hōiho / Te Haerenga o Hōiho.
The Journey of Hōiho is an enchanting story of friendship, fun and adventure set in the natural world of Aotearoa as Hōiho (a yellow-eyed penguin) enlists the help of our young heroine Mia and travels the world to find his friend the kūaka (godwit) who has not yet returned to our shore.
This action-packed theatre show calls on its young audience to help guide our heroes on their farflung adventures, using Te Reo Māori while learning social and environmental responsibility. You don’t have to know Te Reo Māori to understand this show, but it does provide children with a funfilled opportunity to learn and use it in their everyday lives.
“We’re delighted to welcome back Te Rehia into the building,” says Centrepoint’s artistic director Jeff Kingsford-Brown. “Their bilingual shows for kids are inclusive, creative and, above all, fun.”
THE JOURNEY OF HŌIHO / TE HAERENGA O HŌIHO
Dates: 13-16 July 2016
Times: Wednesday – Saturday 11am & 2pm
Tickets: General admission $10
Venue: Centrepoint Theatre, 280 Church Street, Palmerston North
Bookings: 06 354 5740 or www.centrepoint.co.nz
Te Rēhia Theatre Ltd
Toi tu te kupu, toi tu te mana, toi tu te whenua
To honour, revitalise and transmit Te Ao Māori through theatre to Aotearoa and the world. Te Rēhia Theatre Ltd was established in 2012 by Tainui Tukiwaho and is headed by experienced theatre practitioners Keporah Torrence and Regan Taylor. The focus of the company is to develop and present professional Māori theatre of the highest production quality that promotes Te Ao Māori and develops Māori audiences throughout the country. Over the three years since its conception Te Rehia Theatre Company has been highly successful in developing and presenting works both locally and regionally including tours of the Ruia Te Kākano series, Te Awarua and Hoki Mai Tama Ma.
Ruia Te Kākano series (Plant the seed)
Development of Ruia te Kākano started in 2011 and arose from the companys’ desire to pay homage to the lyrical idiom of te reo Māori. Over the past three years Ruia te Kākano has travelled the upper North Island presenting in mainstream and Māori medium schools for a range of age groups. The show has also been included in the FUEL Festival (2012), The Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival and the Auckland Matariki Festival (2013).
Theatre , Te Reo Māori , Family , Children’s ,
A thoroughly entertaining journey
Review by Adam Dodd 14th Jul 2016
Part of the Ruia te Kākano (Plant the seed) series, The Journey of Hōiho or Te Haerenga o Hōiho is an energetic and playful production that introduces children to Te Reo in an interactive story format reminiscent of Dora the Explorer. For those conversant in te reo Māori it offers a rare and whimsical immersion that is sadly often lacking in children’s holiday shows.
In this, Hōiho celebrates te reo Māori with all due playfulness and lyricism, welcoming those who do not speak Te Reo and allowing for engagement nonetheless.
This is facilitated by our Narrator, Te Taiawatea Solomon, the only cast member who employs English during the show. Solomon ensures that we are never lost, she conveys the salient points of conversation and introduces us to the characters – particularly the ebullient Mia (Valda-Anne Shadbolt) and Hōiho (Briar Collard), and the covetous Wheke (Arahi Easton).
The cast of Hōiho are physically expressive, and each have a great deal of presence which they generously employ to heighten the action. Shadbolt claims the spotlight early with Mia’s cheeky exploits but she doesn’t keep it as each of the cast shines. Collard steals some hearts and laughs alike with Hōiho. Easton fills in the majority of side characters, each of them colourful, but his villainous Wheke in particular delights the audience with his irrepressible want for kūaka’s keke (cake), his cackling outbursts and mirth.
As a story, The Journey of Hōiho celebrates the special talents we each possess and the blessing of friends new and old. Moment to moment the audience are swept along with the action. Children clamber in their seats calling welcome to our bashful heroine, they shriek warnings, they groan with laughter at sulphurous emissions. It’s feel-good and fun.
Lasting forty-five minutes, Hōiho is a thoroughly entertaining journey that will keep young ones in their seats until the end – though I suspect teenagers may be left jostling and rolling their eyes. The performance is well-paced with plenty of action and laughs, and it is an outing better-suited for younger kids.
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