The cast of UPU perform in Sydney. Photo credit: The Upu Collective.
By Michelle Curran
Executive Communications Manager, Pasifika TV/PCBL
In Gagana Samoa, upu means word, and the theatre production UPU takes the meaning to a whole other level.
In 2018, creative artists Grace Iwashita Taylor and Fasitua Amosa birthed the idea of a theatre show to platform the poems of Oceania.
Since its debut at Basement Theatre in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland, the show celebrating Oceanic trailblazers, established icons and new talent transforming the creative landscape of Te Moana-nui-a-kiwa, has also impacted audiences in the likes of Mexico, Australia, and Canada.
In February, a cast of six, including renown New Zealand actor Nicola Kāwana (Ngāruahine, Ngāti Ruanui, Ngāti Kahungungu o Wairarapa), will return to Canada for a month, taking UPU around the country, starting in Vancouver.
Nicola Kāwana has been part of UPU since its inception in 2018. Photo credit: The Upu Collective.
Having been part of UPU since its inception, Nicola says joining the production was a case of divine timing.
“I had just returned from my first OE to Europe when Fasitua emailed me to ask if I was interested and it seemed like divine timing when I had come home full of whakaaro about what made us who we are,” Nicola says.
“We have such an illustrious cannon of upu – words, story – told through a Pasifika lens, which were until then, mostly confined to the page.
“Poetry can seem like a niche form read by word geeks like me, but it tells stories both historically and currently – so needed in these times.”
Hailing from Taranaki, Nicola says she was a child in the racist 1970s New Zealand.
“The mainstream narrative then both in media and in systems of education and society were a world away from where we are today,” she says.
“It was a given that my dad was a second-class citizen whose ancestral knowledge and social constructs were less then.
“Māori in the news were trouble-making radicals and Pacific Island immigrants were targeted as being problematic to what ‘this New Zealand’ aspired to be.”
The themes in UPU speak to the ways of being that Māori and Pacific mostly kept to themselves, matauranga and spiritual beliefs, along with the casual day to day racism which people laughed at with assumed friends, neighbours, teachers and politicians, in order to keep safe and accepted, she explains.
“I think it is shocking for that milieu to hear our truths and I know it is balm for our Te Moana Nui a kiwa whānau to see themselves and their lived experiences, spoken, so openly in word.”
While touring internationally is taxing on the UPU cast and crew, both emotionally and physically, Nicola says it is extremely rewarding, as the production is a rare experience, where she and her peers can make a difference in the world.
“The response from our international audiences has been humbling,” she says.
“Indigenous peoples have a universal story of what it is to live in colonised countries.
“Cultures that have been devastated by systems who have actively tried to assimilate or commit genocide.
“The very little I know about Turtle Island, Canada is our shared histories of decimation make for instant communion and relief, and despite very different landscapes, we are not alone.”
“I feel so privileged to have been a part of Upu since its inception, and while I have always loved poetry, I had no idea of how it would impact an audience.”
Following the Canada tour, Nicola will return to Aotearoa to work on season two of the television series Dead Ahead, which is being filmed in April, as well as completing a book.
She will also keep landscape gardening for her many clients – a passion project she has built up over recent years.
As for UPU, she knows it will tour for a long time to come.
“Whenever I can I hope to be a part of both its future and past.
“Kia whakakatōmuri te haere whakamua – I walk backward into the future.”
UPU features the work of the following poets:
- Tusiata Avia
- Audrey Brown-Pereira
- Ben Brown
- Jaqueline Carter
- Sia Figiel
- Konai Helu Thaman
- Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner
- Briar Grace-Smith
- Simone Kaho
- Daren Kamali
- Celestine Kulagoe
- Albert Leomala
- Grace Mera Molisa
- Karlo Mila
- John Pule
- Lyz Soto
- Leilani Tamu
- Apirana Taylor
- Tayi Tibble
- Selina Tusitala Marsh
- Hone Tuwhare
- Brandy Nālani McDougall
- Maualaivao Albert Wendt
- Noʻu Revilla
- Craig Santos Perez
Visit the Upu Collective website for more information.