He made changes partly because, while the show is targeted at toddlers, most parents or nannies attend with more than one child, and of varying ages. “I wanted it to be a family affair so I broadened it a little. I call it buffet interaction. Our kids ingest music in all sorts of different ways. I have found in the new version a freedom in space to listen and walk around.”
Theatres can sometimes be restrictive but Pipi Paopao is far from that.
“Tamariki can move around, and make the space their own. We will even have a little station out the front for colouring in and the doors will always be open.”
Pipi Paopao is a homage to the kuia of the kohanga reo movement. “It celebrates the simplicity of our language,” says Rutene.
He wrote it during one of the early lockdowns, writing the music first and then leaning on “all those beautiful things” from the grandmothers of the movement. “It is a love letter to my daughter and all our kids, to find their voice and place in the world ”
The show is aimed at those three to five years old and adopts the unique characteristics of our manu rangatira (noble birdlife) through waiata and play. It is a show for everyone, whether fluent in Te Reo Maori or on a journey that is only beginning, and an invitation to explore the beauty of a language that echoes the sounds of te taiao (nature).
It uses proverbs and metaphors of the natural world to teach and prepare little hatchlings — which translate to pīpī paopao — so they too may flourish and fly into a world of their own.
Spooner has delighted Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival before with Thoroughly Modern Maui and Super Hugh Man with his brilliance, charm and a bulging artistic kete.
He is a huge supporter of Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival. “We have so many artists, creators and practitioners on and from the Coast who have talent in truckloads,” he says. “If little Rutene was exposed to some of the greatness that TTAF has to offer I would have fast-forwarded a lot of learning.”
He praised the vision of festival chief executive and artistic director, Tama Waipara.
Spooner has a few big projects on the boil, including Whakapaupakihi, a Maori musical by the Tuari siblings — Ani-Piki, Tatana, Tamehoake and Hamiora — which was a sell-out at the 2021 Tairawhiti Arts Festival. He is also working on a new commission with New Zealand Opera which is a bilingual children and whānau show.
He moved back to Tairāwhiti in his teens and thrived in a region rich in the Maori performing arts and tikanga Maori. His love for musical theatre came when he embraced kapa haka, which he says has many similarities.
Tama Waipara describes Spooner as “a world class artist who understands and embraces his home”. “
He will always be back here because that is who he is and who we are,” says Waipara. “The love that Tairawhiti people have for quality arts’ experiences is proven, and it makes perfect sense that great artists would want to be in a place that great art comes from.”
And he feels equally proud to showcase Tairāwhiti to visitors and those who may have never been to the region before.
■ Pīpī Paopao, Lawson Field Theatre, 10am and 12 noon on Thursday. For more information and tickets, head to https://tetairawhitiartsfestival.nz
