KAUPAPA | ABOUT

Join us at Te Pou Theatre for a special one-off playreading of The Visitors by award-winning Muruwari (Indigenous Australian) author and playwright Jane Harrison, as part of Kōanga Festival 2024. The Visitors is an audacious, earthy, funny, gritty, and powerful re-imagining of a crucial moment in Australia's history.

THE VISITORS nā Jane Harrison

On a sweltering day in January 1788, seven clan leaders gather on a sandstone escarpment overlooking the harbour. The attendees, six of them Elders and one new initiate, catch-up, laugh together, share a meal and compare notes. But beyond the friendly banter, protocols, and hospitality, a momentous decision is waiting to be made. A mysterious fleet of giant nawi is amassing in the harbour and as they creep closer, these seven representatives must choose unanimously: whether to send these strangers on their way or welcome them?

Having recently been awarded Best Mainstage Production and Best Ensemble at the 2023 Sydney Theatre Awards, Muruwari playwright Jane Harrison’s THE VISITORS is at once a riveting, deeply researched insight into one of the most impactful and painful days in Australia’s history, and a hugely entertaining study of how communities respond to change and the unknown.

The play will be read by Māori performing artists following an Our Stories, Your People international Indigenous exchange. Leading Māori theatre makers come together with Moogahlin Productions to share in this exchange.  

NGĀ TANGATA | CAST & CREATIVES

Kaituhi | Writer — Jane Harrison (Muruwari)