Rakiura by Eileen Phillipp

In 1978 a young Japanese woman was discovered living in a cave at Doughboy Bay on Stewart Island. Winter was approaching and the local people became concerned for her welfare as her living conditions were rough and exposed to the Antarctic winds. It was then discovered that she had overstayed her visitors’ visa and  local police escorted her to Invercargill where she was taken care of at the Salvation Army Hostel. Her elder brother came from Japan; she appeared before the magistrates court and was deported. In 1980 Eileen Phillipp wrote the first ever New Zealand Noh play based on this incident. Rakiura is the Maori name for Stewart Island and means Land of the Glowing Sky. Noh Theatre themes are to do with resolution of spiritual estrangement and salvation of anguished ghosts. In the play Rakiura we meet in the first part the actual woman and she expresses her shame at being discovered. In the second part of the play we meet the woman in a former life and she explains then why she has come to this lonely place.

Our 1993 production was well received with The New Zealand Herald critic Tara Werner writing;

Michele Hewitson writing in the New Zealand Listener;