Set in a market garden nearly 90 years ago, The Mooncake and The Kumara tells the story of a Maori-Chinese romance at a time when society wasn’t tolerant of cross-cultural love affairs.
Told in English, Maori and Cantonese, playwright Mei-Lin Te Puea Hansen loosely based the story on her grandparents’ relationship, but she also weaves in layers of myth and fable.
“I’ve taken traditional Maori stories and given them Chinese characters, so the Chinese characters tell these stories that are Maori but they tell them as though they’re Chinese and vice-versa.”
The play started as a 10 minute entry, co-written with Te Puea Hansen’s cousin Kiel McNaughton, in the Short + Sweet theatre festival, where it won the prize for Best Drama. Now the full length production is making its world premiere at the Auckland Arts Festival.
The Mooncake and The Kumara plays from March 5-10 at Q Theatre.
*Cover image copyright John McDermott
