Kia ora I'm Rawiri Paratene and I'm the producer of the Maori Troilus and Cressida. Now you might have heard that we've been invited to represent New Zealand at the Cultural Olympiad in London this April. The Maori Troilus and Cressida will open the Globe to Globe Festival at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on the Thames in London on Shakespeare's birthday, April 23rd.

The Globe to Globe Festival will present all 37 of Shakespeare's plays in different languages by companies all over the world. So to be asked to open that festival is indeed a great honour.

However to get a cast of 22 there and back is costly, so that is why we're making this fundraising appeal.