New local drama Tangata Pai serves primetime TV with 30 percent te reo

The director of a new bilingual Kiwi TV drama with 30 percent te reo dialogue hopes the story will help people understand “a little bit more” about Aotearoa.

Tangata Pai, which screens on Three and Three Now from 16 September, is an eight-part series that begins with a bomb exploding at a peaceful anti-mining protest at a sacred Māori site in Ngamotu New Plymouth.

The story is told through the point of view of five characters: a rising Māori musician, a father and activist, a Chinese-Kiwi police officer, a Māori MP, and a nurse and mother.

Director Kiel McNaughton (Waikato-Tainui, Taranaki, Ngāti Apa, Chinese, Pākehā) says he wants people to deepen their understanding of others and of Aotearoa as a nation after watching it.

“While sometimes we can cast judgement on a protest, or an occupation, or an activist, there are people behind that, there are people whose lives are affected by that, there are people who are aware of the effect that being an activist has on other people, and the choices that those in power are making and how those affect everyday people.”

At the series premiere in Ngamotu on Saturday night, McNaughton told RNZ it felt right to set the story in Taranaki because he and his wife had been living in Hāwera for eight years.

“While the setting is Taranaki, you have all the history of Taranaki and protest, supporting the depth of the characters in the wider story, it's about these characters and their connection to all the different people in their lives.”

Actor Shavaughn Ruakere, who audiences may recognise as nurse Roimata Ngatai from Kiwi soap Shortland Street, plays ED nurse Hinewai in Tangata Pai.

The Taranaki-raised wāhine says it was a full circle moment to play the role, not just thanks to her Shortland Street experience but because her mum is a nurse and her dad was a doctor.

Ruakere, who grew up in Ōpunake, says it was special to film Tangata Pai so close to home.

“I mean, Taranaki Hardcore, right? So, this is the first time I've ever, in my career, gone to film anything in Ngāmotu, New Plymouth. This is my hood.

“It's kind of like spot the cuzzy for me on this show because I've got so many whānau who are background talent, or they've got speaking roles in the show, so I'm just like, ‘oh cuzzy, oh cuzzy’.”

Te reo Māori makes up 30 percent of the dialogue in Tangata Pai, which was initially “terrifying” for Ruakere.

“I'm very much in the beginning stages of my journey - I did one year at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa which I fully recommend to anyone who's thinking about starting but that was a couple of years ago... I dropped off, because life got busy.”

She says she felt compelled to restart her reo Māori journey after working on the show and has re-signed with next year's Te Wānanga intake.

“Whether you're on that journey or not, like, kia ora, and for a lot of people I think there might be a certain time in life where that becomes more important to you, or of more interest to you.”

James Tito, who plays Tīmoti, says he found it easy to “channel into” his character.

“I just had to look at the maunga, I just had to look at the taiao, and it was all there for me to draw on and embody and feel settled and grounded and honouring this character, what he represents to the iwi, to his people and to his whānau.”

While that part was easy, Tito (Ngāti Tuwharetoa, Ngāpuhi, me Ngāti Raukawa) says he had to adapt to the Taranaki dialect used in Tangata Pai.

“The fact that it's got the backing of the iwi and it's in the mita (dialect) of Taranaki whānui, I think that's testament to how far we've come. Actually, we're now talking about dialect and when we're talking about authenticity and whakapapa, I think that shows how far we've come as storytellers, as te reo Māori, and as Aotearoa as a whole.”

Tangata Pai starts screening on Three and Three Now from Tuesday 16 September.