Māori Theatre about the Nelson Tenths with pūrākau, taonga pūoro, waiata, and poetry.

As a mokopuna of Taranaki, Donna McLeod carried her Nanny's kete to hui in the 70s, where the kaupapa was the Nelson Tenths. 

In 2023, her whānau live on papakāinga in Motueka. Donna refuses to let her mokopuna carry her kete. 

Intergenerational history. My history. Your history. Our history.

All Ages

Content Warning: The content of this show touches on important but difficult themes which are relevant both historically and to the present day. May contain strong language. 

Supported by: Downing

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Age 16+. Strong language, references to nudity. Haze.

Celebrated singer and songwriter Theia presents re-imagined songs from her critically acclaimed alt-pop catalogue alongside dreamy waiata from her award-winning reo Māori project Te Kaahu.

Theia’s lyricism in te reo Pākehā is often raw, confrontational and challenging, while Te Kaahu explores cultural identity, the environment and spirituality.

Although seemingly worlds apart, at the heart of both projects is a songwriter with great depth and an unwavering commitment to making music that takes the listener to soaring heights and devastating depths.

Bringing together both projects for the first time on this Aotearoa premiere tour, Girl, In A Savage World is a powerful and thought-provoking, 60-minute show that must be experienced. 

Supported by: Tohu Wines

Join the world’s only, unabashed, olive fuelled, award-winning comedy circus power trio on a wild ride as they bring people closer together, one olive at a time.

Rise of the Olive features World Record Bounce Juggling & Jenga Stunts (as seen on TVNZ’s recent season of 60 Seconds talent show), and a whole host of other high caliber left field skills and comedy. 3D glasses and morph suits will make a comeback, a heart stopping innovative Aerial Rope act.. and more... so much more in fact, you’ll be given a run sheet on arrival so you can keep up!

Having toured all over the world to critical acclaim, this show is a perfect balance of joyful, existential, hilarious and incredible. Expect high-level circus, bizarre ideas and a bloody good night out.

"Fall-down funny, absolutely top shelf." ★★★★★ Advertiser (AUS)

"Jaw-dropping physical prowess... and LOLs. A lot of them." - Theatreview, NZ

Age 16+. Strong language, references to nudity.

Supported by: BlueBerry IT

Award-winning doctor and writer, Emma Espiner, discusses her stunning debut memoir, There's a cure for this, with Arihia Latham. Together they kōrero about hurt and healing, love and loss, life and death, motherhood and medicine.

From the quietly perceived inequities of her early life to hard-won revelations as a Māori medical student and junior doctor during the Covid-19 pandemic, Emma's story is a candid and moving examination of what it means to be human when it seems like nothing less than superhuman will do. Her story is an exploration of hurt and healing, love and loss, life and death, motherhood and medicine. With Latham, who is a rongoa Māori practitioner, they will also explore how incorporating te ao Māori in our healthcare system could benefit us all.

ACCESSIBILITY PROGRAMME
This performance will be New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Interpreted.
To book reserved seats close to the front of the stage for a good view of the interpreter, call NCMA on 03 548 9477, or email [email protected].

Presented by: Go Media

All pukapuka will be for sale through the Festival bookstore Paper Plus Nelson, both at their shop and at their stall at Pukapuka Talks sessions - your opportunity to meet authors and get your books signed! You can also purchase books from Paper Plus online.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Witi Ihimaera’s Tangi, the first novel written by a Māori author to be published in New Zealand. Join Witi and six fellow Māori writers at this special gala event to celebrate Aotearoa storytelling: Emma Espiner (MC), Vaughan Rapatahana, Ruby Solly, Donna McLeod, Arihia Latham and Airana Ngarewa.

To mark the 50th anniversary of the first Māori novel to be published in New Zealand, and to commemorate Witi’s contribution to Aotearoa literature, Penguin Books NZ will publish two new anthologies of Māori writing this year: Te Awa o Kupu and Ngā Kupu Wero. These two passionate and vibrant anthologies, which have been edited by Witi, Vaughan Rapatahana and Kiri Piahana-Wong, feature more than 80 contemporary Māori writers. 

It all started 50 years ago when Witi’s debut novel, Tangi, was published. A landmark literary event, it went on to win the James Wattie Book of the Year Award. Witi was just 29 years old at the time. Revisiting the text for this special anniversary edition, Witi has added richer details and developed the nascent themes that have continued to preoccupy him over a lifetime of writing. As part of the 50-year celebration, Penguin Books NZ has also re-released Witi's first book, the short story collection, Pounamu, Pounamu (first published in 1972). 

At this special event, Emma Espiner will facilitate a kōrero with Witi and Vaughan about Māori storytelling’s upsurge in New Zealand literature, interspersed with performances by some of the contributors to the two anthologies: Emma herself, Arihia Latham, Donna McLeod, Airana Ngarewa and Ruby Solly. 

All pukapuka will be for sale through the Festival bookstore Paper Plus Nelson, both at their shop and at their stall at Pukapuka Talks sessions - your opportunity to meet authors and get your books signed! You can also purchase books from Paper Plus online.

Presented by: Go Media

Fierce, furious, fabulously unforgiving: from its premiere at Auckland Arts Festival comes the celebrated stage adaptation of Tusiata Avia’s unapologetic poetry collection.

Inspired by the poems of celebrated New Zealand Samoan poet, Tusiata Avia who became the first female Pasifika poet to win the Ockham Book Award for poetry for The Savage Coloniser Book, this show presents a sometimes blistering, sometimes amusing, but always clear-eyed examination of colonisation and the continually thorny subjects of race in Aotearoa. 

Following on from the triumphant, internationally acclaimed Wild Dogs Under My Skirt, and again under the artful direction of Anapela Polata’ivao, Avia’s examination of race and racism, the colonised and the coloniser, is full of bold humour, courage and lacerating truths.

Not to be missed!

“a production of unparalleled excellence” - Spinoff

“honest, disruptive, and empowering” - Theatrescenes

ACCESSIBILITY PROGRAMME

The Friday 20th of October performance of The Savage Coloniser Show will be New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Interpreted. This performance will no longer be Audio Described.

For more information please email [email protected] or call 027 241 4599.

To book reserved seats close to the front of the stage for a good view of the interpreter/performance, call the Theatre Royal or NCMA Box Office on 03 548 9477, or email [email protected]. 

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Age 14+. The content of this show touches on important but difficult historical societal themes such as colonisation, slavery, genocide, sexual abuse and racism. Contains strong language.

Supported by: Innit Creative

Vast Dance Festival celebrates the combined talents of high school students in the “Top of the South” region.

The annual performance showcases students from Waimea College, Nayland College, Garin College, Motueka High School, Nelson College and Nelson College for Girls.

The objectives of Vast Dance Festival are to:
– Provide opportunities for high school students to perform in a professional environment
– Celebrate the wide range of styles taught in our region
– Provide a platform for student choreographers to share their work
– Give students practical experience with lighting, front of house, design and stage management responsibilities

Come join the country's greatest jugglers, acrobats and circus artists in the New Zealand Juggling Association's annual gala show. The Aotearoa New Zealand Juggling and Circus Festival is in Nelson for 2021, this is the night where we show off for each other and now for the whole town! Ground breaking artisty and side splitting hilarity will be on offer for this one night only special event.

This show has been cancelled.

Run through the fields of time with Nelson's much-loved theatre troupe the People's Republic of Improv, and jolly well share a laugh or two along the way.

In this comedic exploration of Nelson history from multi-media annals of the long-forgotten past, our brave actors will take timeworn Nelson Mail headlines, old-fashioned advertising, disregarded objects of eras bygone-and your suggestions-to regale you with history that definitely, precisely, unquestionably (might have) happened, in Nelson.