KEY POINTS:
A machete, a stylised tapa motif, a cross and corned beef can delineate the performance space for Wild Dogs Under My Skirt.
But Tusiata Avia's one-woman show moves beyond these cliched symbols of island life and introduces a fascinating group of characters drawn from the shadowy margins of Pacific Island society.
There is the sexually aggressive Dog Woman, and Alofa, a naive village girl who enjoys the fruits of a bingo prize at Apia's nightclubs and stoically endures the brutal retribution that follows when she returns home pregnant.
The play forcefully articulates the repression experienced by young Samoan women who must deal with an ever-expanding catalogue of prohibitions enforced with beatings.
If this all sound rather grim, Avia confounds expectations with a light-hearted, ironic tone that is consistently entertaining. The parental hidings are treated with a broad humour that provides a down-to-earth alternative to the pompous abstractions that have been served up in our anti-smacking debate.
Avia's writing reveals a poetic sensibility that finds metaphorical resonance in commonplace details like the nutritional analysis on a corned beef can or a young woman contemplating her shoe size and regretting that she is unable to get off the earth with stilettos and platforms.
The play's highly developed sense of irony is used to fine effect when a devout reflection on the Virgin Mary leads to a hilarious deconstruction of the doctrine of incarnation.
The most engaging moments deal with the entanglements that occur when traditional culture rubs shoulders with modernity.
Helen Clark's platitudinous apology for New Zealand's response to Samoa's independence movement is brilliantly juxtaposed with cannibalistic imagery that underpins traditional island rituals of apology and forgiveness.
Avia's engaging stage presence is highlighted by a low-key production style that avoids theatrical showiness and keeps the emphasis firmly on the play's finely crafted language.
If there is any complaint it would be that some of the writing was too finely honed.
The 50-minute running time left me wanting more and some of the more unusual scenarios ended just as they were getting interesting. An intriguing encounter between a Samoan woman and an immigrant Muslim family could easily have been expanded, and there is no doubt that Avia has plenty of material for future shows.
Review
What: Wild Dogs Under My Skirt, AK07
Where and when: Musgrove Studio, Maidment Theatre Fri-Sun; on again Mar 15-16, Victoria Theatre, Devonport
