The Savage Coloniser’s a ‘shock of racism reality’ in New Zealand

After a successful run at the Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of Arts, The Savage Coloniser show is headed for South Korea.

But not before stopping in Christchurch, hometown of the play’s writer, Tusiata Avia, MNZM, and where she faced a great deal of racial discrimination.

Avia wrote hard-edged poems based on her experiences and published them into a book in 2020.

Cast member Joanna Mika-Toloa (Wild Dogs Under My Skirt/The Factory) spoke on Pacific Days about the journey of portraying Avia’s perspective to help inform audiences.

“It’s a really impactful show that gives the audience a shock of reality and it’s based on a lot of Tusiata’s own experiences growing up as a Pasifika woman in Christchurch.

“It looks into the harsh realities of racism in New Zealand currently,” she says.

“And it’s just one of those shows that you really have to come and watch to get a good taste of what it is about.”

A stunning cast that includes Stacey Leilua (Wild Dogs Under My Skirt/Young Rock), Petmal Petelo (Wild Dogs Under My Skirt/Things That Matter), Ilaisaane Green (Wild Dogs Under My Skirt/Red, White & Brass film), Mario Faumui (Co-founder Fine Fatale, Wild Dogs Under My Skirt choreograher) and Katalaina Polata’ivao-Saute who made her acting debut in the 2023 Auckland Arts Festival season.

Under the masterful direction of the equally formidable Anapela Polata’ivao, Avia’s unapologetic examination of race and racism is as expected of Pacific theatre shows - full of provocative humour and the courage to break the norm.

Mika-Toloa says the entire creative team have created a safe space for actors to express Tusiata’s words with purpose.

“We’re really pushed to go to places that we wouldn’t normally as Pasifika women, it’s really in the words and understanding what Tusiata wants the audience to understand.

“It’s not a play where you can improvise and choose other words to say, every word in Tusiata’s poetry is written specifically for a reason.”

There’s no written script, instead lines in the play are delivered through Avia’s poetry where each cast member has a number of poems to read.

Mika-Toloa says all the poems have differing themes that call for a range of alluring deliveries.

“One of the poems I read, ‘Dear Brown Girl’, is a poem Tusiata wrote based on an experience when she was accused of stealing from a bookshop.

“She wrote a letter of complaint to the bookstore and they wrote her back, and it’s just that we’ve been treated in the past and brushed over, and stereotyped as ‘thief’ or some bad racial slurs.”

Following a $60,000 arts award from Creative New Zealand, the show received criticism from ACT Party Arts, Culture, & Heritage spokesman, Todd Stephenson, who was against the funding and believed Avia’s work “sows racial division”.

But Mika-Toloa says the show encourages people to have a critical examination on societal and individual thinking.

“I think people come into it not knowing what they’re getting into. There was a lot of controversy around the initial opening last year and there was some political backlash from politicians as well due to some of the content of the poetry.

“But in the way that we’ve performed it, it's more of a reflection on people’s own ways of thinking on how racism is currently happening in New Zealand,” she said.

“The audiences have been very shocked because it’s been a real reflection on how they perceive us as people. It’s kind of like a self-check as well.

“And then some people just straight up feel like they just got beat up with all the truths.”

The Savage Coloniser will play at Black Box Theatre during the WORD Christchurch Festival Ōtautahi from the 10-13 of September. Book tickets here.

It’ll also play in Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival in early October then heads to the Seoul Performing Arts Festival.

Mika-Toloa forewarns people the play is “very in your face confrontational with fun surprises” but it’s a chance for self-reflection.

“You take what you can take from it and then it’s up to you whether you want to change things about yourself.”