Pork & Poll Taxes Returns to Auckland's Herald Theatre

Pork and Poll Taxes returns to Auckland this September, bringing Talia Pua’s award-winning theatre work back to the Herald Theatre five years after its sold-out premiere. Written by Talia and first brought to the stage in 2021, the play returns from 16 to 19 September 2026 with a redeveloped script, new creative vision and Talia stepping into the role of Yuk Chun.

Set against an important and painful chapter of Chinese New Zealand history, Pork and Poll Taxes 人頭猪税 explores migration, resilience, family and belonging through the experiences of a Chinese family divided between Aotearoa and China. Presented by Proudly Asian Theatre, Hand Pulled Collective and Auckland Live, the new season brings the story back to the Aotea Centre, where it premiered in 2021.

The story takes us to 1891 and “New Gold Mountain”, the name used by Chinese migrants for Aotearoa and the promise of opportunity it seemed to represent. Jiu Choy leaves China hoping to build a better life, but dreams of prosperity collide with the realities of migration, racism, financial pressure and a family being pulled in different directions.

At the heart of the play are Jiu Choy, his wife Shui Ching, their son Kam Loi and daughter Yuk Chun, each with their own ideas about sacrifice, responsibility and a “better life”. Their family story gives a human shape to a period when Chinese migrants faced discriminatory immigration policies and increasingly hostile attitudes in Aotearoa.

For Talia, the return of Pork and Poll Taxes is particularly special. Her original 2021 production was both her playwriting and directing debut, developed following research into the experiences of early Chinese immigrants to New Zealand. The work was named an Adam New Zealand Play Award finalist and later won Playmarket’s Playwrights b4 25 Award, establishing Talia as an exciting emerging voice in Aotearoa theatre.

This time, Talia moves from behind the production into the world she created, joining the 2026 cast as Yuk Chun. The redeveloped production is directed by Chye-Ling Huang, who was Talia’s directing mentor during the development of the original work, continuing a creative relationship that stretches back to the play’s beginnings.

The 2026 cast also includes Darren Young, Nikita 雅涵 Tu-Bryant, Dennis Zhang 张全 and Xiao Hu. Under Chye-Ling’s direction, the production has been reimagined with new direction and design while retaining the cultural specificity and family relationships at the centre of Talia’s writing.

Talia is a Malaysian-Chinese theatre-maker based in Tāmaki Makaurau whose creative practice has never fitted neatly into one box. Acting, playwriting, directing, set design and puppetry all sit within her world, and she is co-founder and artistic director of Hand Pulled Collective. That multidisciplinary approach gives her work a distinctive quality, with story, performance and design working alongside each other.

Her recent work reflects that range. Alongside appearing as Mei-Ling in the acclaimed New Zealand feature film Tinā, Talia’s performance credits include The Valentina and Silo Theatre’s Taniwha. In 2025, she received the Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi Springboard Award for Theatre, supporting a career already moving confidently across screen, stage and creative disciplines.

We’re particularly proud to have Talia as part of the Collaborate Management team of talent. Artists like Talia are exactly what makes this job so good: people with the skill to perform the work, the curiosity to create it and the courage to tell stories that add something meaningful to our understanding of who we are.

Pork and Poll Taxes is also a reminder of why locally created theatre matters. Historical events can sound distant when reduced to dates and legislation, but theatre puts people back into that history. It asks us to consider the choices made around kitchen tables, the families separated by oceans, the pressure placed on people trying to belong somewhere new and the legacy those experiences leave for later generations.

Five years after its first season, those questions around migration, identity and belonging remain deeply relevant. The new production gives audiences who saw the original a chance to encounter a significantly redeveloped version of the work, while opening the door for a new audience to discover Talia’s story for the first time.

Pork and Poll Taxes plays at the Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, from Wednesday 16 September to Saturday 19 September 2026. The season runs for approximately 90 minutes with no interval, and tickets are on sale now through Auckland Live.

To discover more about Talia’s acting and creative work, visit her Collaborate Management profile or official website. You can also explore our talent roster or get in touch for bookings. We’re enormously proud to represent Talia and to see Pork and Poll Taxes returning to the stage with a new life, a new perspective and a story that deserves to be heard widely.