Kia ora Gregory, (this is hello in Maori)
May I just begin by saying what an interesting topic you have chosen to write about this week. I like how you have expanded your readings and have chosen to tackle something a little different.
As a girl with Kiwi roots, I really enjoyed reading about the Pop up Globe Buckingham Company and how they infused both modernism (speaking in Maori and slang) and traditionalism (all men on stage) into their performance. I like how you have delved into examining two different reviews and looked at both the positive and negative aspects of speaking in the traditional Maori tongue. This allows your reader to remain open-minded and to decide for themselves whether or not they would enjoy such a play.
I wholeheartedly agree with your comment about how readers who perhaps have never read or seen the play, would “miss out on the lyrical and carefully constructed poetry of the fairies.” I believe that there is a sense of magic created when the fairies speak, and perhaps this sense of magic may not be felt or interpreted by an audience member with limited knowledge of the play.
Nonetheless, your thorough review of this performance has me thinking I might purchase a ticket myself. Perhaps I’ll need to purchase a Maori-English dictionary first though…
Well Done!
Note:
Just be wary of spelling
Separate instead of seperate
Erratically instead of erraticaly
Positions instead of postion
Lili Braidner 