Wild Dogs Under My Skirt

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

“I want to frighten my lovers/let them sit across from me/and whistle through their teeth”, read the final lines in Samoan-New Zealand poet and performer Tusiata Avia’s poem Wild Dogs Under My Skirt.

The title refers to a woman whose fierce strength is focused, in this poem, on the pain, primality and sexual power she reinforces in having her legs tattooed in a traditional fashion. The title is also that of the six-woman play that is part of the Tairawhiti Arts Festival next month.

Described as a celebration of island life, the femininity of a Samoan woman and all its complexities, the play is a series of monologues that paint a personal view of Pacific Island life and its sometimes uneasy collisions with the Kiwi way.

“I investigate some of the aspects of the Samoan culture that I felt had been swept under the carpet,” writes Avia.

“Things like the prevalence of violence towards children, the unhealthy actions of the church, that kind of stuff. I was pretty uncompromising.”

In her solo performance of Wild Dogs Under My Skirt, Avia transformed into sexually aggressive Dog Woman, naive village-girl Alofa and numerous Samoan aunties, writes Siobhan Harvey in the Listener. Those various roles are shared among the show’s six actors that include award-winning director Anapela Polata’ivao.

“The play is a series of monologues that peel back and reveal the uncomfortable truth that is simmering underneath the smiles and ‘talofa lava’s’ in Samoa life” says Polata’ivao who plays village misfit, Teine Sa.

“She’s complex and misunderstood. She calls a spade a spade and people don’t like that. She’s confronting and fiercely unapologetic and there’s a story behind that.”

Teine Sa is the village pa’umuku (whore) who possesses the strength, daring and confidence of the demi-goddess,Tele Sa, says a character description.

“She is the embodiment of female sexuality and displays all that comes from within it,” says Polata’ivao.

Other characters in the production include Tusiata, a worldly but vulnerable woman based on the playwright/poet; 10 year old Samoan girl Manila who lives in a village with her extended family and mean Aunty Fale, an “old school Samoan” who has a cruel streak, particularly towards children. Aunty Avai is a gossipy but not malicious villager woman who has a strong sense of fun. Another character, Mary Jane, is described as the idealised, South Seas “dusky maiden”.

“Domestic violence and sexual assault are addressed with delicacy and raw honesty and familiar stories of physical discipline are brought home without the over-used mask of humour,” says Kolopa Simei-Barton in The New Zealand Herald.

“Singing, live drumming and a Greek- style chorus highlight the show’s hard-hitting themes.”

The monologues offer a taste of life, says Polata’ivao. Each one explores from a different age and angle what it is to be a Samoan woman.

“They’re all stand-alones — from the young Malia giving her innocent account of molestation through to the gossiping, god-fearing women of the village. There is a silent unease that hangs over them. The breadth and depth of the piece is universally relatable.”

Wild Dogs Under My Skirt, Lawson Field Theatre, Friday October 11, 7pm. Tickets $20-25.