Review: Flintlock Musket at Aotea Centre

Maaka Pohatu in Flintlock Musket. Photo / Supplied

Flintlock Musket opens with a lamentation and closes with a haka; in between is an unrelentingly tense but beautiful tragedy.

Admirably, Kirk Torrance's second play, a Shakespearean allegory of Maori staunchness facing the Pakeha machine, ventures into territory virtually uncharted in theatre: early 19th century Aotearoa.

Out of this world before the musket wars, director Rachel House and choreographer Jack Gray have created a half-lit, dreamlike vision of great orators and fierce dancing fighters on John Verryt's vast, diamond-shaped stage.

But this is not some pre-colonial golden age. Under fearsome leader Aoraki (an impressive, powerful Maaka Pohatu) life seems nasty, brutish and short.

But it gets worse when Scottish slave Mason Ingram (Jason Whyte) becomes Macbeth on his marriage to Hine (Nancy Brunning) who, Ladylike, seeks revenge through ambition. They become stuck in a "swamp of horrors and gore" of their own making.

Masculine posturing - the musket used as a taiaha - and memorable poetic imagery abound. Barren countryside is "bleached land"; greed becomes a boil under the skin that rots away and "eats your mana" (the only false note is an anachronistic reference to "bacteria").

Within such rich verse, the first half sets up dramatic situations and intriguing relationships - such as Mason's friendly but untrusting tussling with Aoraki's complex son Toki (Jarod Rawiri). Predictable plot points, paralleling Macbeth, take over most of the second half, but the final scene - the showdown between the rangatira and his white, would-be usurper - is epic in its significance and execution.

Although audibility was occasionally an issue, the actors and dancers are excellent. Whyte and his Scots accent shows particular stamina and dancer Taane Mete was an inspired choice for the tohunga standing in for Macbeth's witches.

The costumes are striking and simple, and thankfully no fake moko are on display (a couple of the performers show exquisite body tattoos). The eerie music, composed by Tama Waipara and Sean Lynch, ramps up the atmosphere.

An experience to be immersed in - blood, spit and all.