We are sorry to advise that the co-production between Auckland Theatre Company and Hāpai Productions of Nancy Brunning's Witi's Wāhine is postponed. 

Witi’s Wāhine is a large-scale kaupapa that would be rehearsing and performing over the coming months. If we start making it, there is a high risk the production would have to be paused or even cancelled due to COVID-19 cases and isolation periods. We also have ongoing uncertainty about gathering size limits and for Witi’s Wāhine, we cannot present the show to just 100 people. That means we will reschedule Witi’s Wāhine into 2023.

When it does hit the boards in 2023, it is going to be very special.

If you are a ticket holder, you will receive an email advising you of your ticketing options. The box office is fielding a large number of requests and we greatly appreciate your patience. 

About the play 

An uplifting love song to the wāhine toa of the East Coast who inhabit Witi Ihimaera’s celebrated writing.

Four wāhine take their journeys through history and mythology, sharing tears, jokes and waiata along the way. But these are no ordinary women – they’re matriarchs of New Zealand fiction, finally stepping out from the shadows.

In Witi Ihimaera’s books, characters spring from the page, fully formed and opinionated. Here, some of his most memorable characters, from works like The Parihaka Woman, The Matriarch and Pounamu Pounamu, step onto the stage.

The result is Witi’s Wāhine, a love letter or, more accurately, a love song, to the women of Te Tairāwhiti, the East Coast, who inhabit Ihimaera’s writing: the wāhine of his own whānau. Nancy Brunning has crafted a story that fuses loving tribute with powerful commentary, levity with unflinching reality, sensitivity with warm affection.

“Nancy Brunning was a towering theatrical talent and in this, her final work, she gifts us a beautiful ode to wāhine Māori.” – Jonathan Bielski

A co-production between Auckland Theatre Company and Hāpai Productions.

Mihi aroha to Tama Waipara and the Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival for their tautoko and manaaki. They provided the pathway for Nancy’s vision. Tama was unshakeable in his belief in our māreikura and her writing. Hāpai Productions acknowledges the role Tama plays in bringing this beautiful tribute to life.