{"id":297871,"date":"2026-02-23T08:54:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T08:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/297871\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T08:54:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T08:54:07","slug":"rising-star-tioreore-ngatai-melbourne-set-to-shine-in-waiora-hone-koukas-timeless-story-of-loss-and-dislocation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/297871\/","title":{"rendered":"Rising star Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne set to shine in Waiora, Hone Kouka\u2019s timeless story of loss and dislocation"},"content":{"rendered":"

At 14, Ngatai-Melbourne had the confidence needed for the character. She was chosen after a casting call held in schools, where she was asked to sing a song and tell a joke. What she thought was a bad audition was clearly a good one \u2013 and it opened a door. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d wanted to be an actress since I was 10. I was always the loudest, never afraid to be who I was.\u201d <\/p>\n

After high school, the logical next step was attending Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School in Wellington for three years.<\/p>\n

Since graduating in 2020, she\u2019s landed roles in major New Zealand films: Makareta in Cousins (2021), a teenage Whina Cooper in Whina (2022) and Rangimai in Lee Tamahori\u2019s colonial drama The Convert (2023). She\u2019s also had smaller parts on environmental teen drama Mystic, and Kair\u0101kau, a show about three M\u0101ori chiefs in pre-colonial Aotearoa. <\/p>\n

Now 26, the Auckland-based actor will play Rongo in the 30th-anniversary production of the landmark play Waiora Te \u016akaip\u014d \u2013 The Homeland, opening at the Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts next Friday and then coming to the Auckland Arts Festival in March. <\/p>\n

Theatre legend Hone Kouka (Ng\u0101ti Porou, Ng\u0101ti Kahungunu, Ng\u0101ti Raukawa, Kai Tahu) is again directing the play he wrote three decades ago, about his wh\u0101nau moving from their ancestral home, Waiora, on the East Cape to work in the South Island, seeking jobs and economic security. Can they stand together or will they drift apart?<\/p>\n

Today, the themes of the ongoing impact of colonisation, urban drift, social dislocation and intergenerational tension are as relevant as they were in 1965 \u2013 the setting of the play \u2013 (and when it toured in 1996 and 1997. <\/p>\n

Kouka says Waiora \u2013 the first in a trilogy \u2013 is not just a M\u0101ori story but also an immigrant story. And here\u2019s something special: the sound designer is Kouka\u2019s daughter, Maarire Brunning-Kouka, whose mother, the late Nancy Brunning, played Rongo in the original productions. Baby Maarire toured with them. <\/p>\n

In a Wellington warehouse, the cast is rehearsing a scene where Rongo\u2019s family prepares a beachside h\u0101ng\u012b to celebrate her 18th birthday. She\u2019s been standing in the ocean and is quietly shivering as her mum (Erina Daniels) wraps a towel around her. <\/p>\n

Ngatai-Melbourne doesn\u2019t say much, but her facial expressions and body language convey Rongo\u2019s struggle with being separated from her t\u016brangawaewae. In another scene, she sings a beautiful waiata. <\/p>\n

When Kouka messaged Ngatai-Melbourne asking her to play Rongo, she hesitated \u2013 \u201cI consider myself a screen actress rather than a theatre actress\u201d \u2013 but decided she was up for it. Since graduating from drama school, it\u2019s her first stage role.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe story is about his wh\u0101nau moving from the East Cape to the South Island, so he\u2019s intentionally brought cast and crew from those places,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

That includes her. Affiliated with Ng\u0101ti Porou and Ngai T\u016bhoe, Ngatai-Melbourne grew up in Te Araroa, a tiny East Cape community, attending k\u014dhanga reo and a M\u0101ori-language immersion school, with te reo as her first language. <\/p>\n

Moving to Wellington was a shock. \u201cMy whole life, I\u2019d been surrounded by te ao M\u0101ori,\u201d she says. \u201cHonestly, I didn\u2019t know that not all M\u0101ori speak M\u0101ori. It was interesting meeting M\u0101ori from other places because they were different. Like, we weren\u2019t all the same.\u201d Rongo says a similar thing in Waiora. <\/p>\n

\"TioreoreTioreore Ngatai-Melbourne in The Convert, Lee Tamahori’s final film before his death in 2025, with Australian actor Guy Pearce in the background.<\/p>\n

Ngatai-Melbourne\u2019s work is deeply rooted in her culture. \u201cThey\u2019re true stories of what M\u0101ori have been through and are still going through,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut there are so many more stories we can tell about M\u0101ori that the world hasn\u2019t seen. For example, the world\u2019s obsessed with the haka. But we\u2019re also waiata, we\u2019re dance, we\u2019re humorous.\u201d <\/p>\n

While wanting to break down those stereotypes, she doesn\u2019t feel a weight of responsibility to represent her culture. \u201cI never think like that. I\u2019m just myself and just do it. Maybe sometimes there\u2019s pressure on my shoulders, but I know I\u2019m good enough to be great.\u201d <\/p>\n

She was great in The Convert, Lee Tamahori\u2019s final film, about a British missionary (Guy Pearce) who converts her character, Rangimai, to Christianity. \u201cAlthough it\u2019s from the P\u0101keh\u0101 point of view, I know that would also have been the world of our ancestors, because we were converted.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ngatai-Melbourne wanted to do justice to the role of Rangimai, who tries to exact revenge for her husband\u2019s death. \u201cIt was also an amazing opportunity to work with Lee Tamahori, may he rest in peace,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt never felt like I was a new actress and he was this experienced director. I\u2019d give suggestions because I was so confident in my M\u0101oritanga. He\u2019d say yes or no. Sometimes I\u2019d push for a yes, but I was never cheeky. I respected him so much for listening to me.\u201d <\/p>\n

And Guy Pearce? \u201cHe really appreciated the M\u0101ori culture. He got two t\u0101moko [traditional M\u0101ori tattoos].\u201d <\/p>\n

Ngatai-Melbourne attended The Convert\u2019s showing at the Toronto International Film Festival, receiving one of nine TIFF Rising Star Awards for 2023. <\/p>\n

She initially didn\u2019t know what that was, or that it was a big deal \u2013 during the festival, TIFF Rising Stars undertake professional development with international casting directors, film-makers, producers, and industry executives. In 2017, Hamnet\u2019s Jessie Buckley was one of the actors selected.<\/p>\n

Recently, actor Cliff Curtis asked Ngatai-Melbourne what her plan is. \u201cI said, \u2018I honestly don\u2019t have a plan, you tell me\u2019. He said, \u2018Just keep doing what you\u2019re doing.\u2019 So my plan is just to go hard in everything I do. But I also want to crack something international. I know it\u2019s close. I can feel it.\u201d <\/p>\n

Waiora Te \u016akaip\u014d \u2013 The Homeland is on at the Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts in Wellington, February 27-March 1 (festival.nz) and the Auckland Arts Festival, March 6-22 (aaf.co.nz) as part of the Auckland Theatre Company\u2019s 2026 season. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At 14, Ngatai-Melbourne had the confidence needed for the character. She was chosen after a casting call held…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":297872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[164071,95,164069,380,164068,156,1888,71,15977,10937,78,164067,59965,2225,111,139,164065,69,1118,6777,10538,8417,801,205,1551,21410,2737,427,4758,7069,51385,164064,61,164066,164070,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-297871","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-30thanniversary","9":"tag-and","10":"tag-captivating","11":"tag-decade","12":"tag-dislocation","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-first","15":"tag-from","16":"tag-hone","17":"tag-hunt","18":"tag-in","19":"tag-koukas","20":"tag-landmark","21":"tag-loss","22":"tag-new-zealand","23":"tag-newzealand","24":"tag-ngataimelbourne","25":"tag-nz","26":"tag-of","27":"tag-performance","28":"tag-play","29":"tag-production","30":"tag-rising","31":"tag-role","32":"tag-set","33":"tag-shine","34":"tag-star","35":"tag-story","36":"tag-taking","37":"tag-theatre","38":"tag-timeless","39":"tag-tioreore","40":"tag-to","41":"tag-waiora","42":"tag-wilderpeople","43":"tag-zealand"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}