Tiri: Te Araroa Woman Far Walking from playwright Witi Ihimaera is the new production from Auckland Theatre Company, directed by Katie Wolfe (The Haka Party Incident). 

 

Miriama McDowell stars as an ancient woman, born the day the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, who speaks from her life of the joys, the challenges, and injustices she has experienced and witnessed. Echoed and challenged in her storytelling by the old woman’s younger self (Ni Dekkers-Reihana), with both women take the audience on a journey of the story of this country since that day in 1840. 

 

Director Katie Wolfe’s deft approach to minimalist production design allows for emphasis to be given to the substance of the performances, to Ihimaera’s writing. 

Ihimaera’s characters are impressively realised by McDowell and Dekkers-Reihana and both actors are captivating in their performances; McDowell remembers the distant past and the love, the loss endured through where Dekkers-Reihana speaks of recent, vivid memory. Woman Far Walking confronts memory and shows how even with the passing of time, injustice still brings forth unbridled anger. 

 

Tiri: Te Araroa Woman Far Walking is a striking, affecting journey through the story of this country, with Witi Ihimaera’s writing realised through the modern lens of director Katie Wolfe and the exceptional performances of Miriama McDowell and Ni Dekkers-Reihana.