The power of women — to challenge, to overcome, to nurture and to create — is being celebrated by this year's Tauranga Arts Festival amid a diverse range of voices and cultures.
Based on the poetry collection of the same name by New Zealand-born Tusiata Avia, Wild Dogs Under MySkirt is an examination and celebration of what it means to be a Samoan woman and the sometimes uneasy intersection of Samoan and Kiwi cultures. The play follows six women as they navigate religion, sexuality, clothing, domestic abuse and food, all leavened with a generous sprinkling of humour.
Still Life with Chickens is a heart-warming play about a lonely, older Samoan woman (Goretti Chadwick) living in Auckland — and the chicken (a puppet operated by Haanz Fa'avae-Jackson) that invades her vege garden. What starts out as war turns into an unlikely friendship.
Still Life With Chickens,by D.F. Mamea, dir Fasitua Amosa, Cast: Goretti Chadwick, Haanz Fa'avae-Jackson (puppeteer); an Auckland Theatre Company production. Production photography: Michael Smith
"From one tired mama to another" is the subtitle of Emily Writes' best-selling book Rants in the Dark, which has now been adapted into a play. Honest, authentic and laugh-out-loud funny, the play is full of the things that every parent thinks at 4am, but would rarely be brave enough to say out loud.
Writes is also appearing in the festival's speaker programme with paediatrician Dr Renee Liang, co-author of the 2019 collection When we Remember to Breathe, about the mess and magic of parenting. Both are parents to two young children. Liang, a second-generation Chinese New Zealander, will also appear on Start Listening, a panel discussion about racism.
Other speakers of interest to women include Marilyn Waring, elected in 1975 at age 23, who is still the youngest person to ever enter our Parliament. Since quitting politics in 1984, she has campaigned internationally for the economic empowerment of women.
Marilyn will talk to Chlöe Swarbrick, the country's second-youngest MP when elected in 2017, about her political autobiography published this year.
Chloe Swarbrick
Chlöe also appears as a panellist in speaker sessions on being 'different' while living in the public eye, and on climate change.
Well-known financial journalist Mary Holm fronts two Money Talks sessions, one based on her 2018 book Rich Enough?, and another aimed at the 16-35 age group where she will discuss student debt, first-home buying and KiwiSaver and answer audience questions.
Three of the country's leading writers will teach workshops — Kate De Goldi (writing for the 8-13 age group), Catherine Robertson (novels) and Tracey Slaughter (short stories) — while Karen McMillan, fresh from the Frankfurt Book Fair, will take workshops for young writers as part of the Schools Festival.
Also working with schools will be Lizzie Tollemache, one-half of Rollicking Entertainment with David Ladderman. The pair will be offering students workshops in physical comedy, circus skills and an introduction to performance.
Among the musicians filling the Carrus Crystal Palace with beautiful sounds will be Tami Neilson (appearing with her musician brother Jay in an acoustic set) and rising stars Nadia Reid, Reb Fountain and Milly Tabak (with The Miltones), all award-winning songwriters and performers. the details See the full Tauranga Arts Festival programme, including the Schools Festival, at taurangafestival.co.nz. Tickets available from Baycourt Theatre or via the festival website. Earlybird prices until September 13. To book a Schools Festival workshop, ph 079286213.
