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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, September 22, 2001

'Woman Far Walking' tells familiar tale of a native people's struggle

By Joseph T. Rozmiarek
Advertiser Drama Critic

She's 161 years old. On her birthday, the Queen of England sends her a congratulatory telegram. True to her nature, she spits on it.

She's Tiri O Waitangi Mahana, the creation of New Zealand playwright Witi Ihimaera and the primary character in "Woman Far Walking," now on tour with limited performances in Hawai'i. She is named for the treaty signed in the year of her birth, which promised to secure the land of the Maoris from encroachment by white settlers.

While the particular events and place names may not register with a wider audience, Tiri's story is familiar. She tells in personal terms, the plight of a native people decimated by the warfare and disease that accompany European expansion.

It has been her job to keep the fire going, and her burning resistance has kept her alive long past normalcy. As a result, she has become a symbol of her gender and her people. But Tiri is also a living woman who remembers the smooth skin of her first lover and the anguish of burying her babies.

Director Christian Penny works both sides of the line between symbolism and reality in staging this production. We first see Tiri frozen in place on a primitive throne, stuffed and mounted like a museum piece. But as she moves into her story, she rises to sing and dance — reliving the memories that return to haunt her birthday.

The role is a stellar opportunity for Rachel House, who has been involved with the play throughout its development and has won awards for her performance.

Encumbered by black robes and heavy character makeup, House first creates the character vocally. Rasping, but strong, she tells of her love for her mother, her apprenticeship at age 6 to a family of weavers, and her first husband at age 13.

When Tiri rises from her chair, it is the first of several physical moves that punctuate the neatly articulated action of the play. On her feet, she begins to animate her story with gesture, spare movement, and dance steps.

She is joined by a second character, a subordinate figure that annually appears on this occasion. Nicola Kawana takes the part of an other-worldly messenger that stimulates Tiri's memory and briefly takes the shape of other characters — her mother, her child, and a variety of strangers.

Both women chant and sing, creating opera-like moments that punctuate a story point with heightened mood and sustained emotion. The final surprise comes in the finale, when they are unexpectedly joined by a young girl — a representation of Tiri at age six, just setting out on what was to be her long, long journey.

This production offers several pleasures. The playwright bridges the distance between a remote Maori valley and the greater outside world. The director enlivens a potentially static script with careful visual development. And the performance by Rachel House is definitely world class.

"Woman Far Walking" has indeed traveled a long way.