Tiri: Te Araroa Woman Far Walking

An extraordinary mapping of Aotearoa New Zealand through the eyes of Te Tiriti o Waitangi Mahana.

Creator of the acclaimed The Haka Party Incident, Katie Wolfe (Ngāti Mutunga, Ngāti Tama), in association with Auckland Theatre Company, directs this epic tale of Tiri Mahana, a 186-year-old matriarch, from her birth at the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi to present-day Aotearoa. This bilingual retelling written by Witi Ihimaera (Te Whānau a Kai, Ngāti Porou), Katie Wolfe, Maioha Allen (Ngāti Apakura, Kahungunu Whānui, Ngāti Hauaroa, Whakaue, Ngāti Porou) and Tā Haare Williams (Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki, Rongowhakaata, Tūhoe) is drawn from the original play Woman Far Walking by Witi Ihimaera. 

With award-winning actors Miriama McDowell (Ngāti Hine, Ngāpuhi) and Nī Dekkers-Reihana (Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Porou), audiences are invited into a world where Tiri wants us all to remember that the good things, the right things in life, are worth fighting for. The play will be performed in both English and te reo Māori.

Woven into a deeply emotional tapestry celebrating Māori women and the emergent rangatahi (young people) who will take Aotearoa forward, this astonishing production is a national treasure that will continue to resonate across time and place.

By arrangement with Playmarket.

This project is supported through the Giving Program by Tim Fairfax AC and Gina Fairfax AC. Tiri: Te Araroa Woman Far Walking by Witi Ihimaera, Katie Wolfe, Maioha Allen & Haare Williams was commissioned by Auckland Theatre Company in 2025. Woman Far Walking by Witi Ihimaera was originally commissioned by the New Zealand International Festival of the Arts in 2000.