Hawke’s Bay’s Kristyl Neho knows funerals. Raised by a grandfather who was a funeral director, at one point, as a child, she attended between three and six tangi a week. Her grandfather Mane Neho was well-known and much loved, presiding over 10,000 funerals in his career.
“I didn’t realise it wasn’t normal,” laughs Neho. “I spent a lot of time at the urupa … I really know funerals! Through his work he had a really big impact on the families he worked with. Not a day goes by that someone doesn’t say ‘I knew him, he really influenced or inspired me’. This is the impact one person can have on a community.”
Now Kristyl has turned her experiences into a solo show, Tangihanga, as homage to her grandfather and to explore some of the things that happened at his own tangi. The work examines not just the ins and outs of the funeral itself but also the way people respond in times of grief.
Currently being toured around New Zealand, Tangihanga will play Hastings in early October before heading off overseas. Kristyl has her sights set on festivals in Canada and the UK.
Originally Kristyl wrote Tangihanga for the screen and that is still the goal. By performing the piece live in front of audiences, she is in a process of continual improvements: tweaking, rewriting, rethinking. With the first few shows of the season – staged at Bats Theatre in Wellington, where I enjoyed it – the ending changed most nights.
“I used the beginning of the season to test things, so no two nights were the same. We finally have an ending that feels just right!” explains Kristyl. “I am really developing the characters, looking at what works and what doesn’t. I will never get to a point where I say ‘That’s done, that’s finished’. I’m listening to the audience, gauging their responses. I want to find out if this is a story that wants to be told.”
Tangihanga is Kristyl’s 15th solo work in 17 years. Although it’s a one-woman play it’s made possible with the help of co-director Eunice August-Smith and production manager Monique Cowern.
Many of Kristyl’s solos have been biographical or based on stories of her family and wider whānau. Raised in Havelock North, Kristyl has lived in the Bay for most of her life, broken up with stints around New Zealand, Australia and Samoa. She’s worked as an actor and a vocalist, as well as a coach and a teacher. She’s used her performing arts skillset and experience to lead a confidence-building programme called Confident Me in 45 schools throughout Hawke’s Bay. She’s delivered around 40 children’s theatre productions and has worked with over 6,000 tamariki and rangatahi. She’s also appeared in a raft of work by other Bay theatre makers and creatives. Overall, she’s had a huge impact on Hawke’s Bay’s arts scene.
As a theatre maker herself, telling real stories that are place-based and strongly tied to culture and heritage is an important part of Kristyl’s practice.
“I’ve always thought ‘Why not tell Aotearoa stories?’ because it matters, because I could do Les Mis or Caucasian Chalk Circle or Godspell but if I share my story then it gives audience the licence to tell their own,” says Kristyl. “I call myself a storyteller rather than an actor. Being raised by epic storytellers there are so many stories that are hilarious, tragic, dramatic, in our own families. I love Shakespeare but I think my family has these stories within it, so why not tell those instead?”
The story Kristyl tells in Tangihanga has all the elements of the intensity a death in a family can bring. It’s also heartwarming with many of the moments of levity that bubble up during times of sadness.
“It is unconsciously cathartic for me, but my real goals are to entertain, aid and inspire with my work. I know I’ve done something important when someone says ‘I feel better, I’m not alone’,” says Kristyl. “Storytelling has that power.”
Tangihanga is on at Toitoi Hawke’s Bay Arts and Events Centre from 8-12 October.
Tickets through toitoivenues.co.nzBayBuzz has previously written about Kristyl and her projects, here and here.