Nga Tangata Toa (The Warrior People) is a 1994 play by New Zealand playwright Hone Kouka.
Further productions of Nga Tangata Toa took place in Auckland in 1995, Dunedin in 1997, also involving a three night tour to Timaru, and in Wellington at Downstage Theatre in 2006.
Director Colin McColl had directed Henrik Ibsen's The Vikings at Helgeland in Norway, and suggested to Kouka that he adapt it.
In the 2006 revival, Kouka added that a karakia (prayer) be offered before the final curtain-call, in accordance with Māori tikanga, to "close the door" to the spirit-world that had been opened by Rongomai's death.
Te Wai meets Taneatua in Auckland to travel back to Onehora (a fictional place on the East Coast) with him.
Te Riri wants to be like his brothers, nga tangata toa (the warrior people) but he is too young and small to have fought in the war.
Wi explains to Houhou that Rongomai had not returned for any of her uncles' funerals, nor kept in touch with anyone except Te Wai, so it is strange she has been in a hurry to get back this time.
After ordering everyone but Rose to leave, Rongomai gets her revenge on Paikea by letting Te Riri die without assistance.
Te Wai shows Rongomai her pounamu, to reveal the trick that Taneatua and Wi played on the night the dogs were killed.
Dramaturg: Halldis Hoaas Designer: Dorita Hannah Music: Gareth Farr Lighting: Helen Todd Te Riri: Shimpal Lelisi Te Wai: Erina Toi-Paku Taneatua: Jim Moriarty Wi: Matthew Chamberlain Rongomai: Nancy Brunning Rose: Hera Dunleavy Houhou: Samuel Toia/Tyson Day[1] by Taki Rua Productions Rongomai: Nancy Brunning Rose: Hera Dunleavy Wi: Simon Ferry Te Riri: Shimpal Lelisi[3] by Kilimogo Productions, Dunedin[2] Hilary Halba[4] Erina Daniels Cindy Diver David O'Donnnell by Kilimogo Productions[5] by Taki Rua productions Set designer: Tracey Monastra Lighting: Martyn Roberts Sound: Stephen Gallagher Costumes: Zoe Fox Te Riri: Nepia Takuira-Mita Te Wai: Olivia Robinson Taneatua: Rob Mokaraka Wi: Matt Saville Rongomai: Erina Daniels Rose: Miranda Manasiadis[6][7] The Evening Post said of the original production of the play that "Kouka has written a brooding, intense and complex epic tragedy that is both enormously challenging and satisfying.
"[7] For Laurie Atkinson of the Dominion Post, it is "one of the best Māori plays in my opinion because it does not attempt to contain or water down the fiery emotional forces that drive the central characters, and it tells a melodramatic story with a daring flamboyant style that uses both English and Māori to telling effect".
Atkinson called her "this Lady Macbeth of the marae smoulders with dark passions and her hatred...is blood-chilling".
[2] Carnegie and O'Donnell assert that it is through creating sympathy for the character of Rongomai, based on the villain Hjordis, that Kouka changes Ibsen's melodrama into a "full-blown tragedy".
[2] Reviews of the 2006 Downstage production Monastra's set was seen as "strangely straight-edged", and "(too) austere", although Atkinson considered it had the necessary classical simplicity.