Toi Whakaari

Te Kura Toi Whakaari o Aotearoa: New Zealand Drama School (Toi Whakaari) is New Zealand’s largest dedicated training provider for professionals in the screen and performing arts. In 2010 we celebrated our 40th anniversary. Our whakapapa (lineage) dates back almost to the beginning of a professional performing arts industry in this country and together we have grown hand in hand. Our graduates now occupy key roles in all sectors of the industry and related fields. In 1989 Toi Whakaari took the step of embracing Tikanga Māori (Māori process) as an essential element in the life of the School. Over the following years the School has built, step by step, on this commitment, consistently looking for processes and structures in which we can recognise a uniquely New Zealand drama school. Set during the Trojan wars, Troilus and Cressida follows the love between a Trojan prince and maiden and features struggles of power, hierarchy and honour between some of history’s greatest characters. Immediately following the festival it will be travelling on to London to represent New Zealand at the international Globe to Globe festival – an unprecedented programme at London’s Globe Theatre of 37 multi-lingual Shakespeare productions from around the world. Adapted by Ngākau Toa, with a new translation by Te Haumiata Mason and featuring a host of our most respected Maori actors making up the cast. Rawiri Paratene (Whale Rider) stars as Pandarus.