Te Pō by Carl Bland

 

A policeman, a priest and a blind man look for clues that will lead them to the missing playwright Bruce Mason. Where has he gone? What made him leave his desk and vanish into the night?  For Te Pō's odd characters finding Bruce Mason has become a matter of life, death and catching a big fish. Te Pō is an eloquent and surprising comedy. It’s about searching for someone you have loved and lost and finding them again. 

This broadcast of Te Pō produced by PANNZ and RNZ, is adapted from the critically acclaimed stage-show  by Auckland based theatre company, Nightsong, which premiered in 2016, co-produced by Auckland Arts Festival and the New Zealand Festival of the Arts.

The play reunites characters from two of celebrated New Zealand playwright, Bruce Mason’s most famous works, Awatea’s Detective Inspector Brett and Werihe Paku, and Reverend Athol Sedgwick from The Pohutakawa Tree to explore themes of grief, memory and the afterlife. Written by Nightsong co-founder Carl Bland and directed by co-founder Ben Crowder, Te Pō is returning to Auckland’s Bruce Mason Centre for a short two night season at the end of July, to mark the centenary of Bruce Mason’s birth. 

Long-time collaborators, Carl and Ben, formed Nightsong in 2017 to deliver unique and innovative theatre with high production values, and a belief in theatre as a transformative experience for audiences. In 2019, their production of Mr Red Light was commissioned by the New Zealand Festival of the Arts, with development support from Auckland Live, and toured to festivals and venues across New Zealand with the support of Tour-Makers and Creative New Zealand. During lockdown, they were commissioned to write a short piece to be digitally streamed to an online audience, as part of the Theatre Live Online series. The result was Call It a Night starring Jennifer Ludlam, which explored a solo actor’s failing relationship with her audience. Their latest production, A Stab in the Dark, is currently in development, and is described as a journey of adultery, conspiracy and murder.

Te Pō will have a great future. It is a truly New Zealand play. Like The End of the Golden Weather, it could be set nowhere else. The script by Carl Bland is inventive and intelligent with overlapping themes and narratives which make for an incredibly satisfying experience - National Business Review

I want to rack up as many reasons as possible why you should see this show, because it’s a masterpiece - Metro

Read more about the 2016 stage production of Te Pō and its creation here

Listen to an interview on RNZ, with Nightsong talking about creating innovative theatre here

Te Pō can be seen live on stage at Takapuna’s Bruce Mason Centre on Friday 30 and Saturday 31 July. Tickets from ticketmaster.co.nz

For further information visit www.nightsong.co.nz 

Produced by: PANNZ (Performing Arts Network of New Zealand) and RNZ in partnership with Nightsong

Supported by Creative New Zealand and Playmarket

The stage production of Te Pō was originally co-produced by Auckland Arts Festival and the New Zealand Festival of the Arts in 2016.

Written by: Carl Bland

Directed by: Ben Crowder

Sound Design: John Gibson 

CAST: Carl Bland, Andrew Grainger, George Henare and Anton Falstie-Jensen

Supervising Producer: Duncan Smith, RNZ

Recorded by: Blair Stagpoole, RNZ

Sound Engineer: Marc Chesterman, RNZ