The Mana of a Māori George Washington

By Cameron McCausland-Taylor

I was one of many who found themselves lucky enough to attend the Hamilton musical in Tāmaki Mākaurau earlier this year. Going into the show, I knew that Matu Ngaropo (Ngāi Tūhoe, Te Rarawa, and Ngāti Porou) was playing George Washington and I was beyond excited and proud to see one of my people showing their Māori excellence through such a renowned platform. A Māori man playing George Washington? What an incredible concept! However, I was not prepared for just how much Māoritanga Matu would inject into his performance; if you had any knowledge on Māori culture sitting in that audience, you could absolutely spot all of the wiri he popped in there.

After the closing night of Hamilton, Matu also posted an Instagram video of him as George Washington sharing a hongi with the character of Alexander Hamilton. His caption read “Hongi. The moment my tūpuna told me to go in.” This video was viewed over 76,000 times and accumulated a huge number of comments, with people sharing their kōrero on just how special and powerful this moment was to witness. Jason Arrow, the actor playing Alexander Hamilton, commented, “Tell you what, our ancestors must have been chatting cause I swear I knew it was coming, felt it in my whole body!”

I doubt that in his creation of the musical, Lin Manuel Miranda ever envisioned it in a Māori context. It is a truly American story to its core, re-purposed to show the diversity of America today. In an interview with Russell Baillie from The Listener, How Matu Ngaropo survived and thrived as George Washington in Hamilton musical, it was revealed that after watching the show in Brisbane, Lin even said himself “Well, it’s the first time I saw haka moves in the Battle of Yorktown.” Matu did more than just play the part; he completely made it his own and allowed our Māoritanga to shine within mainstream theatre. Māori representation, in my eyes, always means getting our stories out there and sharing them with our people and beyond. Matu’s stunning performance showed me that yes, sharing our stories is incredibly important. Nonetheless, so is having our people seize the opportunity to share our culture in these critically acclaimed spaces that have been Pākehadominated for far too long. In fact, a 2021 Radio New Zealand article Māori participation in arts well above national average shares the results of a Creative New Zealand report on Māori participation in the arts, with 80 percent attending or participating in an event in 2020-2021.

Mainstream theatre in Aotearoa is notorious for excluding and exploiting Māori culture. A bicultural landscape & Māori theatre resource, found on the Ministry of Education’s bilingual education portal Te Kete Ipurangi, gives a timeline of bicultural relations within Aotearoa theatre. The late 1800s saw overseas companies touring the motu, incorporating Māori characters in the usual tropes of warriors and maidens (because Māori only exist within these twodimensional cliches? Aueeee, have they never heard of nuance?). The 1920s and ‘30s don’t offer any pathway forward, with Aotearoa importing British plays and writing new plays in these British styles. Māori weren’t involved in theatre whatsoever, “just as they seemed to have no place in the post-colonial society that was emerging”.

In The Spinoff’s article, The NZ actors in two of the biggest stage shows on the planet, writer Sam Brooks shares how Hamilton rehearsals are “famously collaborative”, in comparison to the rigidity within most musicals that require actors to follow the same style and steps every time. This collaborative environment allows for Matu’s Māoritanga to thrive. Baillie’s interview also shared Matu’s feeling of responsibility in bringing Māori culture into the production. “I thought about what it meant to be a leader, what it means to be a rangatira, what it meant to be a leader of an army, and that is something in our history with the Māori Battalion and my links to the East Coast,” said Matu. “So, when you see the show, you’ll see a whole lot of nods to being Māori – not a way that takes over the storytelling, but punctuates it.”

As said in both the TKI resource and in Sam Brooks’ article, Matu’s performance in Hamilton empowered him to play the lead role in a genre that has notably shut our people out. “If you actually see yourself represented truthfully up there doing the thing that is the phenomenon, it’s so powerful,” said Matu. “That’s our responsibility, to deliver that, and represent that, because that’s the actual magic.”

Matu wasn’t the only Māori performer to take the stage, with Akina Edmonds (Ngāti Kahungunu) taking on the role of Angelica Schuyler. In Frances Morton’s article for Stuff, A chat with Akina Edmonds, the Kiwi star of Hamilton, she is asked if she sees any similarities between her and Angelica. “As a Kiwi and MāoriJapanese woman, we’re very good at keeping it staunch,” said Akina. “I’m the eldest of seven, and she’s the eldest. There are similarities, however I’m learning a lot from her strength and vulnerability and her grace.”

A few issues back, I wrote a piece called Disney In Te Reo Māori: It’s Bigger Than Words, discussing how translating Disney into te reo Māori was not just about the language, it was about the concepts behind the movies being translated. In my opinion, this is a similar ballpark. The Disney movies weren’t based in Māori culture and nor is Hamilton, but there are resemblances to draw on between the media and our Māoritanga. Matu draws on his whakapapa and Māori history related to the Māori Battalion, and Akina draws on her staunchness as a Māori-Japanese woman from Aotearoa, transforming a non-Māori story into a piece where us Māori can see ourselves within it.

Māori theatre as an art form was developed because of our exclusion from mainstream theatre, and I will most likely always be biased in that I favour Māori theatre over any other kind. Our pūrakau are so beautiful, can you blame me? Hei aha, I still believe that seeing our Māoritanga within mainstream theatre is an exciting moment to witness, helping to showcase our culture to a wider audience and show our people that anything is possible. Why shouldn’t we be able to perform in any show we desire and bring our personal touches into our performance? I don’t know about you, but I’d watch even the stuffiest, crustiest play if there was a Māori performer doing their thing and making it their own. Shoutout to Matu for switching up my perspective on theatre in the best way possible.

Glossary:

Māoritanga - Māori culture, Māori practices and beliefs, Māoriness, Māori way of life.

Wiri - trembling/shaking hands in kapa haka

Hongi - pressing noses in greeting

Tūpuna - ancestors

Kōrero - discussion, conversation, etc

Motu - country

Aue - heck! oh dear! - expression of astonishment or distress.

Rangatira - chief, leader, etc

Whakapapa - genealogy

Pūrakau - stories

Hei aha - nevertheless