According to my social media feed, the mid-2020s are a time of endless scrolling, less disposable income, and homebodies who have not quite returned to the pre-Covid socialites they used to be. 'The internet' says we are increasingly turning to the plethora of available streaming platforms to watch movies, shows, and concerts instead of experiencing them live... And although something isn't necessarily true just because it's on the world wide web, I think this last point might have some merit.
We can bring the show straight to our lounge or bedroom, at a time that suits, and while we're wearing our comfy clothes. No longer do we need to don our 'going out clothes', be jostled by people with no sense of personal space, and travel half-way across town to see a performance which doesn't start until after we'd rather be in bed. As convenient as streaming is though, you run into the problem of missing many incredible live performances, and not being able to share the experience with others. And for a species as social as humans, I think that opportunity to share about what we've seen and heard is an important part of the experience, especially if there was something about it that that really resonated with us.
Earlier this year I braved a cold winter's night in Ōtautahi to head to the Court Theatre with a friend to see Cindy Diver's play Wahine Mātātoa: The (Mostly) True Story of Erihāpeti Pātahi , opens a new window... And I am so pleased I did, because I am still thinking and talking about it several months later.
- I think about the way I felt, sitting in the audience: among so many people, but able to hear the gentle wave of the wake spreading from an actor's footfall as they carefully and quietly traversed the shallow pool on the stage.
- I talk about it with a friend who works in fashion, focussing on the costumes and what they convey about the story's different characters.
- I talk about it with colleagues, library staff who specialise in our local Ōtautahi Christchurch and Aotearoa New Zealand history, and whose daily mahi is around the resources which tell the tales (both well-known and forgotten) of 19th and 20th century society and the things that were happening within it.
- And I talk about it with strangers, and people I have only just met. And we discuss how the story it tells is the type of story that we want to hear more of as the history of Aotearoa New Zealand grows longer. That we as a country are increasingly realising that there are more stories to be told than just the ones told by Pākeha about Māori, that the stories can be varied and not just rely on overdone 'Māori princess'-type tropes, and that we can hear those stories from the participants themselves, rather than being relayed by people who weren't actually there.
The tale told in Wahine Mātātoa introduces us to a strong Kāi Tahu wahine, led by her own values rather than societal expectations. It is a story to be enjoyed individually, in small groups, and as part of a larger community. Pātahi: Re-storying the life of a wāhine matātoa, opens a new window gave WORD Christchurch audiences the opportunity to hear how that story was discovered, and how it grew - and continues to grow - to share the story of Erihāpeti Pātahi to new audiences near and far.
Pātahi lived a busy life, full of challenges, exploits, and adventure around the country, and as Cindy Diver, Angela Wanhalla, and Helen Brown described the process of discovering their Kāi Tahu tīpuna's story, I thought of the way her story was progressively being shared to bigger and bigger audiences. I particularly enjoyed getting more of an idea of the line between researched 'fact' and 'mostly true', factually-inspired creative licence.
- Step 1: The discovery of Pātahi's words, transcribed in manuscript form, as she related the events of her life in her later years - a 1:1 kōrero between the speaker and the listener, with a speaker sharing their memories so they aren't the only person who knows these things have happened to them.
- Step 2: Angela spoke of her whānau's interest in whakapapa and genealogy research, and the creation of a family history booklet which started spreading information about Pātahi further. This was where the three presenters realised their relationship to each other, and to her.
- Step 3: Informed by Angela's research, Helen's inclusion of Pātahi's biography in Volume 2 of Tāngata Ngāi Tahu, opens a new window made her story accessible to the broader public. No longer restricted just to researchers with access to historical records, it is now shared openly with anyone who picks up the book, whether they already knew about her or not.
- Step 4: With the creation of Wahine Mātātoa, Cindy has placed Pātahi literally centre-stage in front of diverse audiences in high schools, marae, and professional theatres. We were lucky to see a short excerpt of that play, and for me it was probably the standout moment of the session. Although logically the audience knew we were watching Cindy speaking the words she herself had written for the play, the power, feelings, and conviction of Erihāpeti Pātahi came through in her in her on-stage presence, and there was a long pause after she finished before the audience could pull themselves back from world she'd created for them.
A woven strand is made up of many different fibres, and through the steps of the above process each of the speakers has contributed to bringing this kōrero to life. While don't know what the future will bring for the story of Erihāpeti Pātahi - after an upcoming animated short film for children, that is - it was a pleasure hearing these women share their knowledge and thoughts with us, and discuss the role she has played in their personal and professional lives up until now.
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