Show’s critics criticised

Press, 8 May 1980, Page 12

Show’s critics criticised

PA Auckland The “violent” reaction to the performance by the Maranga Mai cultural group at Mangere College should be treated with the contempt it deserves, according to the president of the Labour Party (Mr J. P. Anderton). He had spoken to the group after an approach by Maori representatives on the boards of governors of Mangere College and Nga Tapuwae College. The group had been looking to discuss the reaction to the performance with a cross-section of the community and he went along as an individual, not i in a political context. I “They were a bit bei mused by the whole thing,” Mr Anderton said, i “They are just young i people who wrote a play and before they know where they are. hie whole - world has blown up in. their face. “The reaction the performance received was violent and had nothing to do with reason or any attempt to try to understand.”

Mr Anderton said much of the violent reaction — including the response of the Minister of Education, (Mr Wellington) — came from people who had not 1 seen the performance. | “That kind of reaction should be treated with the contempt it deserves,” Mr Anderton said. “It seems quite outrageous for the Minister to call for an inquiry into the whole business without having seen the production. These young people are angry and frustrated and it ill behoves the Minister and middleclass pakehas to round on them.” Mr Anderton said he had not yet seen the pro duction — which dramatises issues such as Bastion Point, Waitangi Day, and police “standover tactics” — but hoped to do so if it could be arranged. The point was that the fuss was over a piece of dramatic art and if people felt threatened by the production “they must have pretty thin skins,” Mr An- ■ derton said.