The Gospel according to Taane

Tu Tangata, Issue 13, 1 August 1983, Page 8

The Gospel according to Taane

Kupu whakaata/Review

Cultural norms of the wider New Zealand are being questioned and some replaced with a more genuine reflection of our multi-racial mix. More pressure is going on existing institutions to allow and encourage such moves. While some of those institutions appear to see the need to change, others only dig their heels in and become reactionary. That’s the larger stage that play-

wright, Selwyn Muru finds his play, ‘The gospel according to Taane’ being acted out on. Cleric, the Reverend Hiki (Rangimoana Taylor) finds after some years administering to his Anglican parish that he has been neglecting his Maori side. In this he is ably helped in his doubts by Tu (Rongopai Broughton) an activist who espouses such causes as Bastion Point and Land Marches.

Inevitably Hiki finds his clerical indoctrination incompatible with his taha Maori and renounces his church calling to seek his true self. The Anglican Church is the ‘bad guy’ of the piece, along with the missionaries who subverted the Maori people to put away their multitude of gods in favour of the one supreme being.

That this play has precedence in the wider New Zealand society should give it a strong credibility especially among Maori audiences as there have been Maori clerics who renounced the ‘cloth’ because of the incompatibility they saw in their position. Personal reasons aside, it’s this inner conflict that ‘The Gospel according to Taane’ is concerned with.

It’s handled well by the cast, Te Ohu Whakaari with Rangimoana Taylor as director. There were a lot of new faces in the cast that opened the show at the New Depot theatre in Wellington but the presentation was lively and fresh. I found the dialogue quite believable, apart from the odd grating phrase like Hiki to Tu, “you’re just a communist agitator”. If the show is taken around the country, as planned it needs to be presented in places accessible to a wide New Zealand audience. I feel a tour of marae would not have the same impact as it would be like preaching to the converted (or is that unconverted).