I, George Nepia
Jarrod Rawiri plays George Nepia.
BUT while there are family connections (Nepia farmed down the road from the Kouka family farm in Rangitukia, Hawkes Bay, and Nepia taught Kouka’s father to play rugby) he never met the legendary All Black. It wasn’t until 1982, four years before Nepia’s death, that Kouka even gave him much thought. He was watching television to see the Maori All Blacks about to take on Wales in Swansea when he saw the standing ovation given to an elderly Maori man from the 30,000 Welsh crowd. The man receiving the attention was George Nepia, and Kouka wondered what he had done to receive such a reception. Nepia had of course won the respect of Welsh rugby supporters as a member of the All Black team that toured the British Isles, France and Canada in 1924-25. The team won all 32 games and became known as The Invincibles. Nepia played fullback in every game scoring 77 points on the tour, earning himself the title of the best fullback in history.
Now Kouka has played homage to the rugby icon with I, George Nepia, premiering at Circa Theatre this week. He says his play is more than the story of a referred rugby player. It’s the tale of a husband, a father, a singer and a rebel, and tells how a man from humble beginnings on the East Coast became New Zealand’s first global rugby superstar.
Kouka says he admires Nepia because he stood up for what he believed and paid the price. When he was excluded from the 1928 All Black tour of South Africa because of his race Nepia was one of the first New Zealanders to protest against the apartheid system. When financial necessity during the depression saw him accept a contract to play rugby league in England the New Zealand rugby union reacted by banning him from the game until 1947.
“I guess as a fullback Nepia could see everything in a game and his world view was always wide because that’s the way he played,” Kouka says.
While Kouka is an acclaimed Maori writer, winner of the Bruce Mason Award, multiple Chapman Tripp theatre awards and a member of the New Zealand order of merit for his services to contemporary Maori theatre, I George Nepia is his first play in seven years. He’s been heavily involved with Tawata Productions, a kaupapa Maori production house he founded with Miria George in 2001 to develop and produce new work from emerging and established writers from New Zealand.
“Most of our work has been offshore but we’ve now made the move to do more work in New Zealand. We plan next year to develop bigger works for New Zealand audiences.”
At the same time Kouka is writing two screen plays.
“That’s where I get my wages,” he laughs.
I, George Nepia, Circa Theatre, September 7-16.
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