Bruce Stewart (playwright)

Tawatawa Ridge sculpture

Bruce Stewart (born 1936) is a New Zealand-born fiction writer and dramatist of Ngāti Raukawa Te Arawa descent. Stewart's work is marked by expressions of the anger, confused loyalties and spiritual aspiration of late-twentieth-century Māori. Recently, Stewart has written a poem to express his concern for the future of Te Raekaihau Point, Wellington, New Zealand.

Background

Stewart was born in Hamilton, and grew up in the Wairarapa and was educated at Wairarapa College. He has lived mainly in Wellington, where he successfully set up the first work trust and founded Tapu Te Ranga Marae at Island Bay, creating a centre for debate and education in Māori culture and protocol and for the redevelopment of native bush. He was president of Nga Puna Waihanga (Maori Writers and Artists Society) in 1982.

Published and televised

Broken Arse was published in Into the World of Light (1982) and Stewart later rewrote it as a playscript, which was performed in Wellington in 1990, televised and published by Victoria University Press in 1991. In that dramatic form, the strength of the rebellious prisoners stomping and chanting in unison became even more powerful as haka.

Style

The writing frequently moves outside conventional narrative prose and is particularly strong in the oral dimension.

Marae

Tapu Te Ranga Marae is located in Island Bay, Wellington, New Zealand.

Looking across Taputeranga toward Te Waipounamu

Poetry

On a clear winters day to the East there is often a sprinkling of fresh snow on the Orongorongo...
to the south in the foreground, Tapu Te Ranga Motu and far far beyond The White peaks of Te Waipounamu rise out of the horizon…
Every now and again it all comes together…
extreme beauty...
ahhh it is indeed absolute beauty beyond words…
if only I were a painter...
it is so close to get so far…
I go there often to refuel the soul…
these days as I can no longer fish and dive or even walk…
I wind down the window so I can hear and smell and feel this special place where surf, sand, seagulls, and the sky play together.
I let the healing winds of Te Rae Kaihau wash over me…
sometimes I snooze…
it is my outdoor Cathedral.
Te Waipounamu Mountains

Written by Bruce Stewart about Te Raekaihau Point.

Books

Reviewed by;

Eggleton, David. Evening Post p.31; 27 May 1989.
Mackrell, Brian. New Zealand Wildlife 11(88):32; Spring 1989.
King, Michael. Metro 9(96):184–186; June 1989.
Taylor, Apirana. Dominion Sunday Times p.17; 4 June 1989.
Duggan, Sally. NZ Herald 2:6; 19 Aug 1989.
Faith, Rangi. Listener 124(2572):71; 24 June 1989.Z
McEldowney, W.J.. Otago Daily Times p.24; 5 July 1989.

Reviewed by;

Dale, Judith. New Zealand Books 1(4):8; March 1992.
Cooke, Patricia. Dominion Sunday Times p.20; 29 Sep 1991.

Performance

Reviews of performance at Depot Theatre

Evening Post p.24; 26 Feb 1990.
Budd, Susan. Dominion p.11; 6 Mar 1990.
Cooke, Patricia. Dominion Sunday Times p.18; 11 Mar 1990.
Welch, Denis. Listener 128(2634):108; 10 Sep 1990.

Review

' Broken Arse on at Depot'. Evening Post. p.24; 26 Feb 1990.
'Ko wai ahau?' Mana : the Maori news magazine for all New Zealanders. 1:94–95; Jan/Feb 1993.
Interview with Stewart, Neville Glasgow, Directions (1995).

Related Published Material

McLauchlan, Gordon. 'A new beginning for Maori writing?' Auckland Metro 10:21; April 1982.
Galloway, Penny. 'Waitangi writings.' Listener 120(2502):8; 6 Feb 1988. Includes comment on Stewart.
McNaughton, Iona. 'Tales of an angry young Maori.' Dominion p.10; 27 May 1989.
O'Hare, N. 'Faith and work.' Listener 125(2594) Sup.p.85-87; 20 Nov 1989. Interview.
Lucas, J. 'Stewart's marae threatened.' Evening Post p.1,3; 25 May 1991.
Wevers, Lydia. 'Short fiction by Maori writers.' Commonwealth : Essays and Studies 16(2):26–33; Spring, ::1994. Includes comment on Bruce Stewart.
Donaldson, Lana Simmons. 'Willing to conform only to nature.' Kia Hiwa Ra : National Maori Newspaper 58:8, 24; Nov 1997. Profile.
Heim, Otto. Writing Along Broken Lines: Violence and Ethnicity in Contemporary Maori Fiction. Auckland: ::Auckland University Press, 1998.
Collins, Heeni. 'Heroes on the hill.' Evening Post p.13 25 Sep 1999. Discusses statue erected by Stewart ::on Tawatawa Ridge, Island Bay, of Te Rauparaha and Te Rangihaeata.

See also

External links

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