Sir Gregory Doran, former Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, recently spent ten days in New Zealand on a trip curated by British Council New Zealand and the Pacific. The visit took him from Auckland's theatres and classrooms to the shores of Lake Rotorua, in search of a deeper understanding of the story of Hinemoa and Tūtānekai, the Māori love story often compared to Romeo and Juliet. This formed part of his wider project exploring how cultures around the world tell their own tales of star-crossed lovers.
Sir Greg's arrival coincided with Matariki, the Māori New Year, marked by the midwinter rising of a star cluster known in English as the Pleiades. He joined the dawn Hautapu ceremony at Takaparawhau (Bastion Point), hosted by Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei.
He attended Silo Theatre's production of British playwright Nick Payne’s Constellations, adapted for Aotearoa by Māori director and actor Nī Dekkers-Reihana. He visited Auckland Theatre Company's Macbeth company in rehearsal, a fitting return given his own history with the company, which goes back to his first visit to New Zealand when he led youth workshops and attended a production of King Lear. He joined director and actor Michael Hurst, one of New Zealand's foremost Shakespearean experts, for a public in-conversation event at the University of Auckland.
A highlight was a full day workshop at St Cuthbert's College, bringing together students from schools across Auckland to explore Hinemoa and Tūtānekai’s story alongside Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. From Auckland, Sir Greg travelled to Rotorua, where he visited Te Murirangaranga, the flute said to have guided Hinemoa across the lake to Tūtānekai, a taonga (treasure) with a remarkable history, and a reminder that the story is not folklore to local Māori but living whakapapa (genealogy).
He was welcomed onto the marae at Ōwhata, on Hinemoa Point, and heard from local kaumatua (elders) about the many versions of the story told around the lake. He visited Iri iri kapua, the rock where Hinemoa is said to have listened for Tūtānekai's flute, and looked across the water to Mokoia Island, where the lovers eventually settled.
Visits like this reflect the UK's commitment to cultural diplomacy in New Zealand, simultaneously deepening engagement with Māori communities and celebrating British creative industries across both theatre and literature. Sir Greg's time in Aotearoa reinforces the value both countries place on culture and storytelling as drivers of connection. British Council New Zealand and the Pacific was proud to support Sir Greg's trip, part of our ongoing work connecting UK and New Zealand through arts and culture.