Bird is the word at this show
Taupō Museum and Art Gallery programmes and events manager Jeffrey Addison gets into character ahead of his bird watching experience. Photo / Dan Hutchinson
We couldn’t feature all the events going on over the next three weeks, but we couldn’t resist Taupō’s very own puppeteering, amateur ornithologist Jeffrey Addison.
By Dan Hutchinson
Jeffrey is the programme and events manager at the Taupō Museum and Art Gallery and has an extensive background in puppeteering, and a great knowledge of birds.
That will combine into the curious Te Pōkai-a-Māui – an interactive, educational puppetry and taxidermy experience in the museum’s Ora Garden.
“Join the bird flock and recreate the legend of Maui’s battle to defeat Hinenui-te-Pō,” the poster reads.
Jeffrey has been puppeteering for years and he and his wife Te Whaitaima Te Whare toured the country with their show Toro Pikopiko Puppets for 25 years, up until 2020.
Toro Pikopiko took puppet-led storytelling to kohanga reo, schools, libraries, theatres, festivals and museums. They have also taken the show overseas.
They also had a TV series on Māori TV of the same name which ran for four years.
The show still goes on in other forms though from time to time and he still has the collection of about 50 Keretao puppets which are traditional Māori carved heads with taniko woven bodies.
Jeffrey has been given a large collection of taxidermy birds, to add to his own collection and his puppets, allowing him to create a new show for the festival, which coincides with the school holidays.
He describes it as a “bird-watching safari”.
“People go from station to station carrying a bird puppet, so they're part of a flock, and we gather together and look at the other real-life birds, albeit they are stuffed, and asking questions like, what's their habitat, what are their threats.
“So the children are asking critical thinking questions … and I'm hopefully able to answer them.”
He’s not an ornithologist, “just someone who's always loved birds”.
“They're all part of Maui's flock … I think it's actually a metaphor for our society. We're a very diverse flock, New Zealanders, you know, some native, some non-native, but we're all still part of one flock, I believe,” he says adding “I’ve just thought of that”.
He says he thought he had retired from puppeteering.
“But they keep wanting to come out and play, so I just let that happen.”
He’s hoping people will gain a little more awareness and appreciation of the birds that live in New Zealand – both native and non-native.
“I mean, I just think they're amazing the way they've evolved, the different kinds of birds, just looking at their beaks and their flight feathers.”
Show times are June 30 – July 3 and July 7 – 10. It is weather dependant and bookings are essential. Email jaddison@taupo.govt.nz.
The show is free apart from the nominal fee for non-locals to enter the museum.