Māori Theatre: Ka mua ka muri

The Team from Alexander Turnbull Library

A month of celebrations dedicated to New Zealand theatre, with the ethos behind the month being to ‘celebrate and elevate’ Aotearoa’s theatre.

Date: Saturday, 1 - 29 September, 2018
Time: 9:00am to 5:00pm
Cost: Free.
Location: Te Ahumairangi (ground floor), National Library, corner Molesworth and Aitken Streets, Thorndon
Contact Details: events.natlib@dia.govt.nz

Māori theatre photographs and ephemera spanning 1960s to the 2000s
Images of a young Jermaine Clement, Taika (Cohen), Rachel House and Cliff Curtis feature among a selection of photographs and theatre ephemera in a display of Māori theatre productions and practitioners. The material spanning the 1960s to the 2000s will screen in various locations across the library to celebrate New Zealand’s inaugural Theatre Month.

Originally compiled for the 2015 National Māori Theatre Hui
From the Photographic Archive and Ephemera Collections of the Alexander Turnbull Library these photographs and theatre posters were originally compiled for the 2015 National Māori Theatre Hui. Primarily from the Evening Post and Dominion Collections the selection features many of New Zealand’s most celebrated theatre practitioners; Inia te wiata, Elizabeth Murchie, Briar Grace-Smith, George Henare, the Māori Theatre Trust, Taki Rua productions, Don Selwyn, Rowley Habib, Nancy Brunning and Jim Moriarty.

More photos, recordings and oral history in the collections
The display features a very small selection from the Turnbull Library’s Photographic Archive which holds around five million prints, negatives, transparencies and other photographic formats.

The Library also has an Oral History and Sound Collection and there are more than 10,000 recordings — including iwi and hapū oral histories.

Image: Wiremu Grace, Briar Smith, and Hemi Rurawhe, performers from the Taki Rua Depot Theatre in Wellington. Evening Post Collection Ref: EP/1993/0943/20-F 1993