Download Te Pō Teacher Resource Pack

“A work of art is not just the art object, the painting,
the performance, the book, but also what that thing does
with and in the minds, imagination and memory of the
watching audience. Our ambitions for young audiences
should be for them to be active and empowered audiences."
Matthew Reason – Senior Lecture in Theatre
York St John University
RESOURCE PACK
Te Pō
Theatre Stampede and Nightsong Productions
New Zealand
Suggested Curriculum Links:
Year 11-13 (Level 5-8)
Subject
NCEA Achievement Standards
Achievement Objectives
Drama
1.5, 1.7, 2.5, 2.7, 3.5, 3.7
L5-UC, CI/L6-UC, DI, CI/L7&8-UC, DI
Music
1.5, 2.5, 2.6, 2.9, 3.10
L5&6-UC, CI/L7&8-UC, DI, CI
English
1.11, 2.10, 3.8, 3.9
NA
History
1.4, 2.4
NA
(arts subject only)
festival.co.nz/schoolfest
CONTENTS
 The Company and The Show
o Theatre Stampede and Nightsong Productions
o The Show
o What Others Have Said
 Meet The Makers of Te Pō – A Talented Bunch!
o Additional Company Members
 Further Reading
 Video
 Reviews
 Your Curriculum Links
 Discussion Questions – Let’s Talk!
IMAGE: CARL BLAND (DESIGN) AND JOHN MCDERMOTT (PHOTOGRAPHY)
THE COMPANY AND THE SHOW
Theatre stampede and Nightsong productions
Carl Bland, writer of Te Pō, founded Nightsong Productions with Peta Rutter in 1990.
Past shows by Nightsong Production include: The Bed Show, The House of Doors and Camels, Peta
and Carl at The Last Supper, Sofa Stories and (in collaboration with Theatre Stampede) Head (winner
of Chapman Tripp Most Original Production), and 360 – a theatre of recollections for the New
Zealand Festival 2010 and Auckland Arts Festival 2014.
Te Pō is a collaboration between Nightsong Productions and Theatre Stampede.
Theatre Stampede was founded by director Ben Crowder.
The show
Where is the playwright Bruce Mason? Why has he suddenly gone missing? What made him leave
his desk in such a hurry and disappear into the night? The investigation into his disappearance is led
by Detective Inspector Brett. He immediately finds two prime suspects waiting in Bruce's study: the
local minister Reverend Athol Sedgwick who is hiding something, and the blind Werihe, who has an
appointment and refuses to leave. Then there's the seagull who seems to be trying to tell them
something. Finding Bruce Mason soon becomes a matter of life, death and catching a big fish. Their
investigation into his disappearance seems to reveal more about themselves than him, and when
Bruce is finally found on Te Parenga Beach a terrible truth about their own lives is revealed.
The play’s main themes are love and death - two opposites. This concept of opposites is used
throughout the piece. It is a play about grief and yet it presents itself as a farce. Our three characters
are full of these opposites. Detective Inspector Brett is a man who is constantly searching for the
truth but cannot see the truth about himself. Reverend Sedgwick is a man of belief who doesn't
know what to believe. Werihe is blind and he sees more than anyone else.
The set emphasizes these opposites; the furniture moves from one side of the stage to the other.
There is the light on stage the actors perform in and the dark of the theatre that surrounds it, a dark
the characters use at the end of the play. Te Pō is about love outlasting death, about love waiting in
the dark for you to find her again.
Te Pō draws on a range of theatrical styles to create a unique view of the world – it relies on strong
visual imagery and original use of language. The work is chaptered by love songs in a Māori
showband style (performed by the actor who plays Werihe) and features puppetry in the form of a
giraffe and a seagull.
The Set
The first two acts are set in Bruce Mason’s office. The set has a conventional box set quality. It is
realistic, with the detritus of a writer scattered about – there are bookshelves, a piano and a desk.
Beyond there are windows and sky. The play is set towards the end of Bruce Mason’s life – so the
furnishings and wardrobe of the characters reflect this late 70s, early 80s tone. However, as the
work progresses the set starts to reveal it is not all it seems. At times all the furniture moves and
tricks the unwitting characters trying to keep a grasp on what is true; when the piano is played, it
sounds like the typewriter and vice versa. We are also visited by a seagull from outside and more
mysteriously a giraffe makes an appearance at times when characters are struggling with their sense
of reality and consciousness.
At the beginning of the third act, a transformation occurs in front of the audience’s eyes – the office
of Bruce Mason dissolves and the expansiveness of Te Parenga beach arrives. All this is done by
theatre illusion and trickery – there is no visible stage management – it is dreamlike and beautiful.
What others have said
Te Pō premieres at the New Zealand Festival 2016 so there are no quotes. The following two quotes
are from the last show made by these two companies:
“It’s a tale of memory and hope and desire and, of course, loss. By the end, if you’re like me, you’ll be
sitting there with waves of sadness washing over you – and yet do not let that put you off. You will
also be filled with delight at the beauty they conjure before your eyes, the moments of glorious
comedy, the subtle and wondrous ways the show claims your heart.” Metro magazine on 360 – a theatre of
recollections
“…the work's strength is that content, form and structure reflect each other beautifully … Movement,
puppetry, object theatre and a smart 360 degree soundscape and lighting design amplify the work's
joyous celebration of the adventurousness needed to make leaps into the unknown in life. It has all
the magic of an old fashioned children's pop-up storybook.” New Zealand Herald on 360 – a theatre of
recollections
MEET THE MAKERS OF TE PŌ – A
TALENTED BUNCH!
Ben Crowder - Director
Ben is a co-founder and director of Auckland’s independent company Theatre Stampede. He studied
drama at both Otago and Auckland Universities and went on to continue his professional training
at The John Bolton Theatre School in Melbourne. His productions are well known for their
theatricality, bold physicality and visual flair.
Work includes: The Young Baron, Blossom, The Secret of Dongting Lake, Well Hung, A Midsummer
Night’s Dream and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. In past years he has collaborated with Nightsong
Productions resulting in the works Head and most recently 360 - a theatre of recollections – which
enjoyed an acclaimed première season at the New Zealand Festival in Wellington 2010 and went on
to very successful season at Auckland’s Civic Theatre. The show won an inaugural excellence award
and also The Hackman Cup, the people’s choice award for most original production at the 2014
Auckland Theatre Awards.
Ben regularly directs and leads development workshops for a range of other theatre companies and
organisations.
Carl Bland – Writer/Actor
Carl Bland is a writer, actor and painter. He has written and created his own shows with Peta Rutter
under the name Nightsong Productions.
Collaborating with Theatre Stampede they also made Head (winner of Chapman Tripp Most Original
Production) and 360 - a theatre of recollections.
Owen Hughes - Producer
Owen is a film and theatre producer. He was production manager at Downstage Theatre in the
1970s working with directors Ian Mune, Mervyn Thompson, Phil Mann, George Webby, Grant Tilly,
Nola Miller and Sunny Amey. In 1990 he production managed Richard Campion and Don Selwyn’s reenactment of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi for its sesquicentenary. He has produced over 50
documentaries, seven one-hour television dramas and two feature films. In this capacity he has won
Best Film at the Nokia New Zealand Film Awards (1999) for Memory & Desire and Best Drama for
Overnight and Trifecta (1998) and Home Movie (1999). For the Auckland Festival (2013) he produced
Walk, Eat Talk as part of Auckland Theatre Company’s Dominion Rd Stories. His most recent
documentary was Anzac: Tides of Blood with Sam Neill.
Andrew Foster - Designer
Director/Designer Andrew Foster was a co-founder of the award-winning Wellington theatre
company Trouble. He has become known for his contribution to the development of new works.
Collaborations with playwrights Jo Randerson, Gary Henderson, and Duncan Sarkies, have become
contemporary landmarks.
Andrew was Head of Radio Drama at Radio New Zealand in 2004-05 and during this time was
instrumental in bringing many of the new voices of New Zealand theatre to radio, including Flight of
the Conchords, Te Radar and The SEEyD Trilogy, which won Best Radio Drama at the 2005 NZ Radio
Awards.
Recent projects include: directing Eli Kent’s ‘slacker comedy/supernatural whodunit’ Black Confetti
for Auckland Theatre Company; designs for Gary Henderson’s Peninsula and Stuart Hoar’s Pasefika
at the New Zealand Festival; direction/design of the Jo Randerson/Trouble classic The Lead Wait,
and the Tony Award-winning Red at Circa Theatre. In 2013 he directed and designed Apocalypse Z,
an immersive theatre work about a zombie apocalypse in Auckland’s Aotea Square.
Elizabeth Whiting - Costume Designer
Elizabeth has designed costumes for The NBR New Zealand Opera, Auckland Theatre Company, Silo
Theatre, Court Theatre, Red Leap and Okareka Dance, Black Grace, Douglas Wright Dance, Michael
Parmenter, Atimira and Shona McCullagh and the Royal New Zealand Ballet. She designed costumes
for Pop-Up Theatre in London, which was performed at the Edinburgh Festival.
Opera design credits include Faust, Carmen, La Bohème, Falstaff, Barber of Seville, The Marriage of
Figaro, Così Fan Tutte (NZO). She designed Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci for the Opera 2011
winter season, Acis and Galatea 2012, Don Giovanni in 2013 and Tosca for 2015.
Theatre design credits include In the Next Room, Mary Stuart, Well Hung, Equus, Cabaret, Into the
Woods, Sweet Charity, Hair, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Duchess of Malfi, Pillow Man, My
Name Is Gary Cooper, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Glass Menagerie and Anne Boleyn (ATC);
The Country Wife, La Cage aux Folles, The Great Gatsby and Cabaret for the Court Theatre. Tartuffe,
Top Girls, Three Days of Rain, Irma Vep, The Scene, Holding the Man, When the Rain Stops Falling,
Assassins, Tartuffe and Angels in America (Silo). For Theatre Stampede and Nightsong Productions
she designed the costumes for both their previous collaborations: Head and 360 – a theatre of
recollections.
Elizabeth designed the World of Wearable Art core show for Wellington every year from 2011-2015.
In 2010 she won the Chapman Tripp Costume Design Award for The Arrival (Red Leap). She
represented New Zealand at the Prague Design Quadrennial in 2003 with her costumes for Falstaff,
and again in 2007 with a team of designers who created the exhibition Blow.
Ella Becroft - Puppeteer
Ella works as an actor, director and producer. Ella has been a Red Leap Theatre company member
since 2007, when she first collaborated with Kate Parker and Julie Nolan on the production Beyond
the Blue. She then went on to devise and perform in their multi-awarding-winning production of The
Arrival, for which she was awarded a Chapman Tripp Theatre Award for Most Promising
Newcomer. Ella was also a cast member in Red Leap’s Sea and Dust Pilgrim.
Ella co-founded theatre company Petit Workshop, and recently directed The Two Farting Sisters,
which toured to Wellington and Auckland. Petit Workshop create beautiful worlds using puppetry,
shadow and pop-up storybook sets.
As well as working in theatre, Ella recently featured in the television series Coverband and
puppeteered Kune from children's series Kune's Kitchen.
She has designed and created puppets for Auckland Theatre Company, Theatre Stampede, Red Leap
Theatre and Petit Workshop.
Nik Janiurek - Lighting Designer
Nik is a theatre practitioner, specialising in freelance production & technical management, and
lighting design. Originally trained at the Bristol Old Vic in the UK, he has worked for premier
companies both in the UK and New Zealand. He has toured extensively with shows in New Zealand
and internationally to festivals throughout Europe, Australasia, Asia and North America.
Nik's previous work includes international tours of Little Shop of Horrors (Jumpboard),Masi and Vula
(The Conch), Gathering Clouds (Black Grace), The Magic Chicken (Theatre Beating) and The Rocky
Horror Show. National tours include The Kiss Inside (Douglas Wright), The Thing from the Place
(Theatre Beating), Tic Tic (Jumpboard) and Rita and Douglas (Armstrong Productions).
Recent work includes Evita, Mamma Mia and Rent (Amici), Between the Waves (Passion
Productions), 360 - Theatre of Recollections and Flora (Theatre Stampede), Len Lye - The Opera
(NICAI) and The Chinese Lantern Festival. Nik has also worked on Guys and Dolls, The Man Whose
Mother was a Pirate, Like there's No Tomorrow, God of Carnage, Mary Stuart and Disgrace for
Auckland Theatre Company.
Nik regularly lights the National Youth Theatre Company productions, including The Little Mermaid,
Beauty and the Beast, The Wizard of Oz, Grease, Aladdin, Peter Pan, Sound of Music, Pinocchio and
High School Musical. He has occasionally taught lighting at the University of Auckland, AUT, Unitec
and Toi Whakaari.
John Gibson – Sound Design
John Gibson has been composing original scores for theatre film dance and television since 1980. He
has clocked up close to a hundred original scores and sound designs for theatre since then. In 2009
he received a Qantas award for his score with Jack Body for Vincent Ward's Rain of the Children. He
has worked on all of Nightsong Productions shows – including the Theatre Stampede collaborations
Head, 360 – a theatre of recollections.
Andrew Grainger - Actor
Andrew's career as an actor began in the 1980s in England. Some of his first professional
productions, all performed on London's West End, were South Pacific, Seven Brides For Seven
Brothers and Little Shop Of Horrors. Television and film highlights from the UK include roles in BBC’s
Pride and Prejudice and Our Friends From The North, The Bill, Rosemary And Thyme, Heartbeat, Bad
Girls and Eastenders, Sky Runners, Avalon High, In The Beginning; appearing in feature film Mean
Machine, and working alongside Robert Redford in Spy Game.
After emigrating to New Zealand, Andrew has rapidly built up an impressive collection of credits,
appearing in When We Go To War, a six part television series for TVNZ, Shortland Street, Outrageous
Fortune, The Million Dollar Con Man, Life's A Riot, The Cult, Spartacus, Super City and most recently
Ash Versus Evil Dead. His film credits here include Six Days and The Dark Horse.
For Auckland Theatre Company, Andrew has appeared in Jesus Christ Superstar, The Good Soul of
Szechuan, Once on Chunuk Bair, Chicago, The Heretic, Anne Boleyn, Little Shop Of Horrors, A
Midsummer Night's Dream, The Twits, Calendar Girls, Mary Stuart, Poor Boy, August: Osage County,
Oliver, Le Sud and Lysistrata. For Silo Theatre: Assassins, That Face, and Ruben Guthrie. Andrew was
also proud to be a part of 360-a theatre of recollections created by Carl Bland, Peta Rutter and Ben
Crowder.
George Henare - Actor
Fifty years in this vagabond but very rewarding profession. A career that began in 1965 with the NZ
Opera Company’s production of Porgy and Bess, then subsequent operas graduating from chorus
member to character principal then into Legit Theatre, working with the NZ Maori Theatre
Trust, Downstage, Mercury, Court, Circa, Taki Rua, Stetson Productions, Aucklsnd Theatre Company
and Newmarket Theatre Company. Across the ditch with Melbourne Theatre Company, Sydney
Ensemble and Company Belvoir - all these interspersed with radio drama, television, talking books,
films, documentary narrations and hosting award ceremonies. “The honours, achievements and
awards over the years have been an extremely humbling experience for which I will be eternally
grateful.”
FURTHER READING
New Zealand Herald interview with Carl Bland (2015):
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11397813
The Big Idea interview (2014) with Ben Crowder on him directing Famous Flora:
http://www.thebigidea.co.nz/news/interviews/2014/nov/151064-stripping-down-the-story
Theatre Scenes site’s collection of theatre reviews of shows directed by Ben Crowder:
http://www.theatrescenes.co.nz/tag/ben-crowder/
VIDEO
Trailer of 360 – A Theatre of Recollections: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG-Xd8NY8g
REVIEWS
Being a brand new show, there are no reviews for Te Pō yet. Below is a list of full reviews of Theatre
Stampede and Nightsong Productions most recent show, 360 – A Theatre of Recollections:
http://www.metromag.co.nz/culture/stage/360-a-theatre-of-recollections-review/
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10628255
http://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/review.php?id=2877
YOUR CURRICULUM LINKS
Which subjects does Te Pō link to?
Drama
Music
English
History
How?
The main elements students can engage with in Te Pō are: writing, performing, strong movement,
character, Maori music, puppetry, and a significant historical figure of NZ. Regarding content there
are some strong ideas around love and grief that can provide some opportunities for significant
discussion around the plays overall themes and what it’s trying to say to its audience.
Read further for more specific information about how Te Pō contributes to the following
Achievement Standards:
Subjects and Standards
Drama
 Attending this show meets the following Achievement Standards for students attending live
performance.
AS90011 - 1.7
Demonstrate understanding of the use of drama aspects within live performance.
AS91219 - 2.7
Discuss drama elements, techniques, conventions and technologies within live performance.
AS91518 - 3.7
Demonstrate understanding of live drama performance.

There is an opportunity here to study the recent and current work of Carl Bland as a playwright
and theatre maker with Nightsong Productions since 1990. He is also an actor and painter, so
there is scope for discussion around multidisciplinary artists.
Additionally, Te Pō offers the added opportunity to use the piece as a starting point to more
deeply understand and examine the work and life of Bruce Mason, a profoundly significant
figure in the history of NZ theatre.
AS91000 - 1.5
Demonstrate understanding of a significant play.
AS91217 - 2.5
Examine the work of a playwright.
AS91516 - 3.5
Demonstrate understanding of the work of a drama or theatre theorist or practitioner.
Music
 Te Pō features love songs in a Māori showband style. The piece can support the following
Achievement Standards with regards to understanding the conventions of these types of musical
scores, as well as providing an opportunity to investigate and research a specific aspect of NZ
music and music history.
AS91094 - 1.5
Demonstrate knowledge of conventions used in music scores.
AS91276 - 2.6
Demonstrate knowledge of conventions in a range of music scores.
AS91278 - 2.9
Investigate an aspect of New Zealand music.
AS91425 - 3.10
Research a music topic.
English
 The following English Achievement Standards are met by Te Pō based on the strength of the
writing of both Carl Bland and Bruce Mason; specifically in the realm of literary understanding,
analysing, critiquing and use of language. Carl Bland has a proven track record with writing and
creating strong pieces of text, and as a contemporary NZ playwright students can study the kind
of work currently being written in NZ. Bruce Mason’s link to this piece also provides students
with the opportunity for a starting point to engage with the writing of one of New Zealand’s
most lauded writers.
AS90856 - 1.11
Show understanding of visual and/or oral text(s) through close viewing and/or listening, using
supporting evidence.
AS91107 - 2.10
Analyse aspects of visual and/or oral text(s) through close viewing and/or listening, supported by
evidence.
AS91479 - 3.8
Develop an informed understanding of literature and/or language using critical texts.
AS91480 - 3.9
Respond critically to significant aspects of visual and/or oral text(s) through close reading, supported
by evidence.
History
 Te Pō could be a starting point for students to investigate the life and work of one of New
Zealand’s most significant artists. Bruce Mason was a playwright “who wrote 34 plays and
influenced the cultural landscape of the country through his contribution to theatre”.
AS91004 - 1.4
Demonstrate understanding of different perspectives of people in an historical event of significance
to New Zealanders.
AS91232 - 2.4
Interpret different perspectives of people in an historical event that is of significance to New
Zealanders.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS – LET’S TALK!
These questions are a guide. They will be more appropriate for some ages and subjects than others.
They are designed to provoke further discussion.

What was this show about? What was the story?

Could you relate to the show?

How did you feel watching it?

How successful were the performers in keeping the audience engaged throughout the
performance?

How did the performers use their bodies to create different moods and characters within
the piece?

Did the performers have presence? Discuss what stage presence is, and how we achieve it.

The piece had puppets. Using what you know about puppetry and what you observed in the
show, what skills do you think a good puppeteer needs to have?

What can you say/share about the writing? Did you follow it? What didn’t you follow (if
anything)?

What did you notice about staging, lighting, sound, music, costume, direction and other
production elements?

How did the production elements support or enhance the performance?

Was there anything you didn’t like about the performance? Why?

Were there parts of the performance you feel you didn’t understand?

Were there parts of the performances that really grabbed or surprised you? Why?

What was your overall impression of the show?

If you were to recommend the show to a friend, how would you describe it?