The cast of Waenga. Hariata Moriarty (front centre) and her brother Tamati (in the suit) created the play after the 2023 election, based on kōrero with high school students aged 15 to 18. (Photo supplied)
Siblings Hariata and Tamati Moriarty are the writers and stars of the provocative play Waenga, *which opened in Wellington this weekend. The play will run at the Toi Aro Arts Centre until July 5, before touring the lower North Island, where it will be performed at 17 marae and community venues over the next six weeks.*Here they are having a kōrero with Atakohu Middleton.
Connie, a teenage wahine Māori, is busking outside a block of shops, singing with her guitar, when shopkeepers complain that she’s causing trouble. Police are called, and she’s taken away under move-on orders of the type the current coalition government is proposing for Aotearoa. These orders allow police to force people to leave a public space without any evidence of criminal activity, on pain of a fine or imprisonment.
This is the provocation that opens Waenga (“Between”), a play that explores justice, identity, and what it means to take part in civic life.
Waenga was written by Hariata Moriarty, 25, and her brother Tamati, 23, who also star in the play. Hariata plays Connie, and Tamati is Grayson, the duty lawyer assigned to her. The characters’ journeys as Māori have been very different. Connie has been raised by political activist parents to be staunchly Māori. Grayson’s life has taken a different path, and he isn’t sure how to be Māori within the justice system. Their encounter will be a turning point for both.
Despite their young age, Hariata and Tamati aren’t newcomers to theatre. Both their parents are drama veterans and pioneers of Māori theatre. Their dad, Jim Moriarty, is an actor and director who first came to public attention in the 1970s soap Close to Home. And their mum, Helen Pearse-Otene, is a playwright, actor and author, who wrote The Undertow, a quartet of plays which was later adapted for television.
Waenga is very much a family affair. Jim is directing the play, and Helen is the dramaturge, providing guidance on the story.
Jim Moriarty and Helen Pearse-Otene (Photo: Te Rākau Hua O Te Wao Tapu Trust Facebook page)
I spoke to Hariata and Tamati via Zoom this week, during rehearsals at Wellington’s new Toi Aro Arts Centre. Clearly attuned to each other, they started and finished each other’s sentences seamlessly, rarely talking over one another.
The siblings (Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairoa, Ngāti Koata, and Ngāpuhi Hokianga ki te Raki) live with their partners and other whānau members — 10 in all, plus Maurice the moggy — in the house where they were raised, a seven-bedroom, three-storey home in Island Bay. Mum and Dad now live in a cottage next door.
Hariata and Tamati grew up in and around their parents’ theatre company, Te Rākau Hua o Te Wao Tapu, which was established in 1989 and is the country’s longest-surviving independent Māori theatre company.
Te Rākau, as it’s often called, uses a model called Theatre Marae, which fuses traditional Māori performing arts, western theatre conventions and group work, often in settings such as prisons and youth residential facilities, to create theatre that draws on people’s experiences.
Helen, a registered psychologist with a doctorate in psychology, and Jim, a registered psychiatric nurse, have long drawn on their professional backgrounds in their creative work. Hariata and Tamati have done the same, combining their acting and academic training to create Waenga.
Hariata began acting when she was eight. In the 2021 film Cousins, she played the adult Missy, one of the three cousins at the centre of the story. After high school at St Catherine’s College, Wellington, she earned a law degree from Waikato University. She’s been admitted to the bar as a barrister and solicitor, and is now studying part-time for her master’s degree in Māori law and philosophy at Te Wānanga o Raukawa in Ōtaki.
Tamati, who started acting at seven, stars in the current ad campaign for telecommunications company One NZ, playing Jade, an adopted son seeking his birth parents. He went to St Patrick’s College and holds a psychology degree from Massey University. He intends to do an honours year and eventually practise clinical psychology.
Tamati Moriarty during a rehearsal at Toi Aro. Waenga is being produced by Te Rākau Hua o Te Wao Tapu in partnership with Hurō Productions. (Photo: Wellington City Council)
This is the second version of Waenga — the first was born after the 2023 general election, which brought the National, New Zealand First, and ACT coalition to power.
Dismayed by the coalition’s swift action to undermine Māori legal recognition and rights, Hariata and Tamati decided to find out how other young people felt about the shift in leadership and politics, and then use that kōrero to create drama that spoke to rangatahi. Tapping into their old high schools and other schools they had connections to, they spoke with groups of students aged 15 to 18.
Hariata: “We asked them what their ancestors would think of today’s society and whether they’d be happy with the state of things. We asked what they’d like to see for their mokopuna. We asked them what tino rangatiratanga means to them.”
They also drew on their experiences over the seven years their parents were foster carers. “Growing up, we shared our house with up to 300 rangatahi Māori,” says Tamati. “A lot of their stories and their experiences have fuelled this show as well.”
The first Waenga premiered at last year’s Kia Mau festival in Wellington. It was also performed for hundreds of students in schools in 2025 and early 2026, and toured with the national kaupapa Māori theatre company Taki Rua.
The second version has been refined and expanded, with eight actors now on stage, rather than three. Joining Hariata and Tamati are Mycah Keall, Regan Taylor, Matiu Rata, Brooke Wharehinga, Rylee Herewini and Ryan Holtham. The choreography is by Tanemahuta Gray, and the music is by Rameka Tamaki and Reon Te Aorangi Max Rose.
“So it’s a different play,” says Hariata. “There’s heaps of new scenes,” says Tamati.
“And it’s really lovely to share this stage with a lot of our good friends as well,” says Hariata. “The collective mauri is everything, and that’s awesome.”
Waenga cast and production team. Back row (from left): Janis CY Cheng, Regan Taylor, Joe Tamihana, Jim Moriarty, Tamati Moriarty, Matiu Rata. Middle row (from left): Mycah Keall, Hariata Moriarty, Ryan Holtham. Front row: Brooke Herewini, Rylee Herewini. (Photo: Wellington City Council)
Hariata and Tamati say they’re not trying to push viewers towards a particular point of view or offer answers to the issues raised in the play. “With our show,” says Hariata, “we’re never trying to push a perspective. We’re never trying to say that we want you to think this. All we’re doing is offering our perspective.”
Reflecting the kaupapa Māori, flaxroots theatre environment in which Hariata and Tamati were raised, the Waenga experience doesn’t end when the story does. After the performance, the creators and actors open a wānanga with the audience to examine the issues raised, offering a supportive space for anyone who wants to speak.
Hariata: “The feedback that we’ve had from people who’ve maybe been in Connie’s position, or know someone in Connie’s position, is that it’s quite cathartic for them to watch the play and then have a platform to be able to talk about it and feel listened to.”
After the show’s Wellington city season at Toi Aro ends on July 5, it tours greater Wellington, Hawke’s Bay, Manawatū, Kāpiti, Horowhenua, Taranaki and Whanganui.
Venues include marae, schools, theatres, events centres, and Massey University.
Hariata: “It’s making sure that we go into the communities.” Tamati: “And get the show to people.”
- Waenga opened this weekend at Toi Aro and continues there until July 5. It then goes to Aotea College, Porirua (July 7-9), Avalon Intermediate Te Kura Waenga o Motuta, Lower Hutt (July 11), Te Tūhunga Rau, Strathmore (July 14), Ōrongomai Marae, Upper Hutt (July 17), Wainuiomata Marae, Wainuiomata (July 18), Toitoi Hawke’s Bay Arts & Events Centre, Hastings (July 20), Sir Geoffrey Peren Building, Massey University, Palmerston North (July 22), Tararua College, Pahiatua (July 23), Feilding Civic Centre, Feilding (July 24), Waitara High School, Taranaki (July 28), St Peter’s Hall, Whanganui (July 29), Ōtaki College, Ōtaki (July 30), Horowhenua College, Levin (July 31), Te Raukura ki Kāpiti, Coastlands Theatre, Paraparaumu (August 1), Wairarapa Events Centre, Carterton (August 4), and Makoura College, Masterton (August 5). Book tickets at eventfinda.co.nz/tours-festivals/2026/waenga
The first version of Waenga has been made into a two-part radio play and airs on Radio New Zealand on June 21 and June 28 at 3.05pm, during the show Culture 101.
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