Waihoroi Shortland has had a wide and varied career in television, radio, print and film media with roles in journalism, acting, script writing, and as a cultural advisor. This was prefaced by 13 years in public service mainly with the Maori Affairs Department, he left with the devolution of the department in 1984 to join a fledgling Maori News programme scrambling to make its place felt in mainstream television.
During the 90s an interest in Maori theatre fed by its doyen of directors, Don Selwyn, led to film and television drama. Significant among these was the role of Shylock in the stage production of THE MAORI MERCHANT OF VENICE, a role Waihoroi reprised in the film production that won him New Zealand Best Actor in 2003.
Being invited to be cultural advisor on Jane Campion’s 1993 film THE PIANO sparked an interest in script writing that culminated in the 2004 film CROOKED EARTH. Cameo roles in Vincent Ward’s RAIN OF THE CHILDREN and Taika Waititi’s BOY were two differing roles of cultural integrity that mark what Wairohoi considers very pertinent signposts in the evolution of Maori storytelling in the 21st century.
But to date, nothing can top the 2012 opportunity to be part of the first all Maori cast to tread the board of The Globe in the first play of the Shakespearean Olympiad of TROILUS AND CRESSIDA.
Session info: Te Reo and Tikanga Māori, Whose Voice is it? With Tainui Stephens, Waihoroi Shortland and John Barnett
