Five minutes with poet-performer Tusiata Avia, whose solo show Wild Dogs Under My Skirt is part of the opening events of Auckland Festival AK07.
What's your show about?
I play six characters. The gist is poetry but I'm loath to tell people that because they think it's
someone on stage spouting poetry - but it's not. It's very much theatre, and the poems flow into one another.
What type of material does it deal with?
All the characters are Samoan women and girls - one of them is me - and the poems look at life from Pacific women's points-of-view. They cover all kinds of stuff, from controversial topics like domestic violence, hypocrisy and the church to light stuff like falling in love, and the universal nature of culture. It is very much comedy - but black comedy.
Why the name Wild Dogs Under My Skirt?
It comes from one of the pieces, but it also refers to having your legs tattooed in the traditional way for Samoan women - there's something wild and ancient hidden underneath your skirts. There are references to dogs through the show. Samoan dogs are not like Western ones - they are wild and thin and always chasing people and biting them. They are a great symbol.
What do Samoan women and wild dogs have in common - the question posed on your publicity material?
Ah! That's the big question. We are both capable of domesticity and grace but also savagery.
When was it first performed?
At the Dunedin Fringe Festival in 2002 and it has toured internationally to places like Vienna, Moscow, Hamburg and Honolulu.
Why has it taken so long to get to Auckland?
I wish I knew! In any event, it's high time it was done in Auckland because it's the largest Polynesian city in the world. Dionne Christian
Performance
What: Wild Dogs Under My Skirt
Where and when: Musgrove Studio, Maidment Theatre, March 9-11
And: Victoria Theatre, Devonport, March 15-16
