It’s 1840 and all the players are here,
at the bottom of the world,
at the dawn of the great new British Colony:
Port Nicholson, Wellington, New Zealand
41.2889° S, 174.7772° E
NZ Company representatives the Spooners - for them a grand residence in Thorndon, flooded shacks for the rest. Come to Wellington - the land is flat, the climate sub-tropical and bananas grow plentifully!
Newly arrived settler Samuel Kenning - “safe and well at the ends of the earth” and ready to claim his land and his better life.
Governor Hobson’s man, Crippen, quelling the settlers’ fears of an impending savage attack.
Missionary man Thaddeus Bly bringing the firm hand of god to Port Nicholson and its natives.
But what of those natives? Those Māori over in Ōwhiro Bay? Wise but stubborn old chief Te Waipōuri and his people.
Surely they are grateful for the presence of these sweet talking men, these landeaters whose mouths froth for the land…?
The Ragged follows the struggles of the ordinary, yet extraordinary people who called Wellington home in 1840.
In support of Ngāti Toa’s residency at Te Papa, Aotearoa’s longest surviving Māori theatre company Te Rākau Theatre, with support from Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangātira, the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and Te Puni Kōkiri, will present their work over the next three years at the museum, taking audiences on a journey into Wellington’s past, present and future with writer Helen Pearse-Otene’s quartet of plays about the settlement of Wellington - The underTOW. The Ragged is the first in the series.
Shows:
Tue 20, Wed 21, Thu 22, Fri 23, Sat 24, Sun 25, Tue 27, Wed 28 January at 7pm-8:30pm
Fri 23, Sat 24 January at 1pm-2:30pm
Tickets:
- Adult: $28.00
- Child (under 14): $14.00
- Concession: $14.00
- Student: $20.00
- Groups (6 or more): $20.00
- Family (2 adults and 2 children): $60.00
- Buy Tickets – 0800 TICKETEK (842 538)
Additional fees may apply
(If your still reading this far down - FEET with Heat are choreographing dance sequences for The Ragged production)