Nga Tangata Toa
Nga Tangata Toa (The Warrior People) is a 1994 play by New Zealand playwright Hone Kouka. The play has themes of revenge, family honour, and long-held secrets. Nga Tangata Toa was heralded as a masterpiece in New Zealand theatre. Directed by veteran theatre director Colin McColl (NZ Laureate), Nga Tangata Toa was first staged at Taki Rua Theatre in Wellington in 1994 and won numerous awards at the prestigious Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards. In the lead role of Rongomai was award winning actress Nancy Brunning. Nga Tangata Toa was inspired by Henrik Ibsen's play The Vikings at Helgeland. Further productions of Nga Tangata Toa took place in Auckland in 1995, Dunedin in 1997, also involving a three night tour to Timaru, and in Wellington at Downstage Theatre in 2006. History The play was written by Hone Kouka and first performed in Wellington in 1994. Director Colin McColl had directed Henrik Ibsen's The Vikings at Helgeland in Norway, and suggested to Kouka that he adapt it. The play moves through the traditional stages of Māori ceremony from pōwhiri (welcome) to poroporoaki (farewell). In the original staging, the audience is placed either side of a transverse stage with regular floor-to-ceiling posts, reminiscent