A noho marae for students from Toi Whakaari [around 198-]. Rangimoana Taylor stands inside the wharenui Toa Rangatira at Takapuwahia Marae. The floor is open and there are mattresses behind him.
Taylor tells the legend of Tāwhaki. He emphasises his story through exaggerated physical movements. At various points of the story, his retelling is greeted with enthusiastic applause and laughter.
The story of Tāwhaki who was an ariki, renowned for his ability to build houses and carve waka. His gardens were abundant. His fame spread all the way to the heavens, where it was heard by the Ariki-Tapairu. She descended to earth and eventually they fell in love. But the Ariki-Tapairu was not permitted to marry a mortal, and so thousands descended from the heavens to part them. Tāwhaki fought to no avail.
After losing his lover, Tāwhaki asked the birds to take him up. They said “we cannot go that high”. He staggered around, unable to do anything. He finds a kuia, spinning a web into the heavens. She directs him to breathe, in and out. He wakes three days later, the kuia gone, and is directed to climb into the sky by a voice in his ear. On the first layer of clouds he meets a creature who is tuna. Tuna descends to the earth through the hole that Tāwhaki made.
Tāwhaki climbed for many more months till he reached the 9th heaven. There, he met a bird. Tāwhaki begs the bird not to tell the fairy people he was there. The bird was pukeko, red nosed from the grip of Tāwhaki. He climbed again to the next heaven and walked around.
Tāwhaki disguises himself as an old man and secretly carves the tau ihu of a waka, that was being squabbled over by the people. In a nearby village he sees his Ariki-Tapairu. He continues to carve the waka in secret and still the people do not know who has done it. When they discovered it was Tāwhaki who had carved the waka, they tried to kill him. The Ariki-Tapairu said “kill him if you want to, but kill me too”. Alas, they could not. He was only allowed to marry her on the condition that he never go back to earth, that he stay with her forever. He said I will, but I need to signal to my people. So when you hear thunder, it is the walk of Tāwhaki with his Ariki-Tapairu.
Once finished, Rangimoana Taylor tells the story again, using only those exaggerated physical movements and no narration. At the end of his performance he thanks Toi Whakaari o Aotearoa.
Pan across: Roomful of people standing to applaud Taylor.
Pan back: Afterwards, Taylor gives a kōrero that there are many ways to tell the stories of Māori. For this story, he researched his method by talking to kaumātua from Te Arawa and Ngāi Tūhoe. Taylor thanks George Webby, Raymond Hawthorne, Grant Tilly, Anne Flannery, Rona Bailey who were his tutors during his time at drama school. Taylor talks about how he navigates theatre as someone who is dyslexic.
Next, a koroua from Ngāti Toa gets up from his chair and stands in the middle of the whare. He stands to mihi to Taylor, calling him a tohunga. He expresses a sense of wonder and appreciation for the space of this hui. He ends his kōrero with an enthusiastic song [unclear what it is].
Pan across: Large group of Toi Whakaari students walking out of shot and out of the marae.