The Savage Coloniser Show

Asia Premiere

FCC/Tusiata Avia

 
  • Writer Tusiata Avia
  • Director Anapela Polata’ivao
  • Date 10.19.Sat. 3:00pm, 8:00pm 10.20.Sun. 4:00pm
  • Conversation with Artists 10.20.Sun. 4:00pm
    After the performance, a conversation with the artist will take place.
  • Language English
  • Accessibility This show touches on important but difficult historical societal themes such as colonisation, slavery, genocide, sexual abuse and racism. Contains strong language.
  • Notice Korean subtitle
  • Rating 13 and over
  • Venue Daehakro Arts Theater – Main Hall
  • Duration 75 min.
  • Premiere 2023 Auckland Arts Festival
  • Tickets R 60,000won S 40,000won
  • Support The Arts Council of New Zealand
    Creative New Zealand
    Creative New Zealand
    Auckland Arts Festival
    PANNZ(Performing Arts Network of New Zealand)
    PANNZ(Performing Arts Network of New Zealand)

 

The Savage Coloniser Show is theatre that is as provocative as it is necessary.

A provocative and dynamic show about colonisation, race and racism, by a New Zealand born Samoan female writer.

Introduction

The show brings to ferocious life Tusiata Avia’s The Savage Coloniser Book, for which she became the first female Pasifika poet to win the Ockham Award for poetry. Under the artful direction of the equally formidable Anapela Polata’ivao, Avia’s unapologetic and clear-eyed examination of race and racism, the colonised and the coloniser, is full of bold humour, courage and lacerating truths.

Synopsis

he voices of Tusiata Avia are infinite. She ranges from vulnerable to forbidding to celebratory with forms including pantoums, prayers and invocations. And in this electrifying work, she gathers all the power of her voice to speak directly into histories of violence. Avia addresses James Cook in fury. She unravels the 2019 Christchurch massacre, walking us back to the beginning. Avia’s unapologetic examination of race and racism is full of bold humour, courage and lacerating truths: The work features Samoan schoolgirls playing a game of patty-cake while singing about the atrocities on Nauru, and a red sequinned Pacific Island maiden planning to kill Captain James Cook. A Tour Guide offers instructions on how to be in a room full of white people. She describes the contortions we make to avoid blame. And she locates the many voices that offer hope.
※ Pantoum: A form of poetry that originated in Malaysia, emphasizing the theme of the poem with a certain repetitive structure and creating unique rhythm.

Writer
Tusiata Avia

Tusiata Avia



One of Aranui’s finest, Tusiata Avia crushed it with her first poetry collection, Wild Dogs Under My Skirt, which she toured around the world for several years as a one woman show. In 2020 she was named a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to poetry and arts and the following year became the first female Pasifika winner of the Ockham award for poetry with her fourth collection, The Savage Coloniser Book.

Director
Anapela Polata’ivao

Anapela Polata’ivao



Multi-award-winning director and actress Anapela Polata’ivao is from the villages of Vailoa ma Vaiusu in Upolu and Fagae’e ma Safune in Savai’i. Since graduating from Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School in 2000 she has directed diverse works such as Alofagia Le Opera with Sole Mio and the Pasifika musical The Factory. In 2024, Anapela was awarded an ONZM(The New Zealand Order of Merit) for services to Pacific performing arts, and also won a PANNZ Fame Award for performing arts.

Producer
Victor Rodger

Victor Rodger



Best known for turning his daddy issues into a cottage industry, Wainon-born playwright Victor Rodger created the theatre entity FCC (Flow, Create, Connect) to give his Pasifika mates roles that placed them at the heart of the narrative. Celebrated for his hit play Black Faggot, he was named an Officer of the Order of New Zealand Merit in 2021 for services to theatre and Pacific arts.

Credits

Writer Tusiata Avia
Director Anapela Polata’ivao
Producer Victor Rodger for FCC
Costume Designer Elizabeth Whiting
Set Designers Brad Gledhill, Rachel Marlow
Choreographer Mario Faumai, Tupua Tigafua
Composer David Long
Stage Manager Chrissy Vaega
Lighting Operator Peter Davison
Production Manager·Sound Engineer Emily Hakaraia
Cast Stacey Leilua, Joanna Mika-Toloa, Mario Faumui, Ilaisaane Green, Petmal Petelo, Iuni-Katalaina Polataivao-Saute
Tour Producer Andrew Malmo
Assistant Producer·Tour Manager Kasi Valu
Fa’afetai tele lava to Creative New Zealand, PANNZ
Premiere 9 March 2023, Rangatira, Q Theatre, Tāmaki Makaurau
Commissioned by Auckland Arts Festival
Subtitle Translation Jasmine Jeemin Lee

FCC

FCC is based on three concepts: the FLOW of energy; CREATING platforms for Pasifika practitioners; and CONNECTING emerging practitioners with seasoned veterans. Established in 2015, FCC has toured throughout New Zealand and performed Off Broadway in 2019 with their multiple award winning production of Wild Dogs Under My Skirt, which has also recently completed an Australian tour.
FCC debuted their acclaimed new work The Savage Coloniser Show at Auckland Arts Festival in 2023, which went on to tour in New Zealand in 2023 and 2024 including to the Aotearoa New Zealand Arts Festival, and to the Seoul Performing Arts Festival in October 2024.

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  • “With characteristic savage and stylish wit, Avia holds the word-blade to our necks and presses with a relentless grace. At the end, you’ll feel your pulse anew.”
    - Selina Tusitala Marsh, NZ Poet Laureate
  • Adapted from Tusiata Avia’s The Savage Coloniser Book, The Savage Coloniser Show is a confronting and intense immersion into the experience of being Pasifika in Aotearoa.
    - Camille Khouri
  • She says things people are stunned to hear or read, revealing the worst parts of the human condition, honestly, truthfully. She explores our capacity to accept a narrative or find empowerment in the power of a woman’s voice to be the catalyst for cathartic change – if we want it.
    - Mitchell Manue