They are individually incredible, but the show fully takes flight when they combine their voices, sometimes speaking in unison, other times picking up the threads from each other, layering word upon world, emotion upon emotion, knitting together a strong, vibrant message from the many strands created by poets, writers, and thinkers across Moana Oceania.
The layering isn’t just in the voices, but in the clever curating of the order of works presented in the programme. Each poem builds on the last one, taking the audience on a journey of words and ideas.
Simple staging along with thoughtful lighting combines to ensure the focus is always on the words, yet still adding an extra dimension to the performance as a whole. The stage allows for changes in height, for performers to sit or stand, and the light draws them out, telling the audience where to look as needed.
Both Craig Santos Perez’s Spam’s Carbon Footprint and Sia Figiel’s Songs of the Fat Brown Woman get plenty of deserved laughs and applause from the audience, while Tusiata Avia’s This is a Photo of my House, draws soft sighs from those listening, as they recognise the sad tale of violence hidden between the childish descriptions.
Tayi Tibble’s Identity Politics was another highlight for me, with the repeated question it contains - ‘Am I navigating correctly?’ - perfectly capturing that sense of wanting to find your way, to find your identity, but feeling scared of getting it wrong, of misrepresenting yourself and your family, your culture, while also trying to fit in with your peers, your generation. It felt, and sounded, like a poem every teenager should be given to read and consider as they navigate their way through those angst-filled years.
Actually, every teenager should come and hear all the poems performed by the talented cast of Upu. Not only because the show gives a voice to the Māori and Pasifika experience, but also because the show brings poetry to life. It reminds us that poetry is always more than simply words on a page - it is the meaning, the emotion, the life and the voice behind those words. Poetry is at its best when performed like this, and Upu ensures every word featured not only counts, but is given its chance to shine and to help us navigate our way through this world, guided by the voices of those around us.
Perhaps that could be my only criticism of a show so beautiful, it deserved every moment of the standing ovation it received. A criticism that it needed to stay longer, to spend a few days in Taranaki, to ensure more could hear the words and connect with them. The good news is that the writers whose poems feature in Upu have donated their writers’ royalty share to the Teresia Teaiwa Memorial Scholarship in Pacific Studies fund. This fund enables Pasifika students to access and excel at tertiary learning. (Teresia Teaiwa’s poem, Misplaced Native, features in Upu). So maybe, in the future, thanks to the generosity of those writers and the scholarship, more Pasifika voices will find their place in the literature of our future, and future shows like this one will have an even more bountiful ocean of words to choose from.
