Dream comes alive through memories

By NIGEL GEARING

For Naked Samoans star and Niu FM breakfast radio host Mario Gaoa, the greatest challenge in getting his first full-length play, Two Days in Dream, off the ground has been finding someone to play the lead character.

"It was a real problem finding someone outside the three godfathers of Pacific theatre - Jay Laga'aia, Nat Lees or Lani Tupu - to play an old man," Gaoa says. "There just aren't that many candidates around."

Dawn Raids actor Eni Petaia plays Ropati, a Samoan who spins out the best and the worst of his memories in Samoan plantations, New York and the battlefields of Vietnam from his room in a New Zealand rest home two days before his death. Shortland Street and Power Rangers actor Pua Magasiva plays his vibrant grandson Sione, and Anapela Polataivao plays the ever-present nurse.

"The idea came to me while I was at the arts festival in Wellington in 1996. A few years later a friend died of a heart attack. He wasn't old, in fact he was fit. My fascination for old people and how they change and become younger when a young person enters their space was also something I wanted to touch on. So, the very beginning of life and the very end are important in this work."

The 23-act, one-hour play sat on Gaoa's computer being visited when the email was cleared and worked on when inspiration struck. Six months ago the fourth draft was selected by Playmarket for script development and workshopping and its associated challenges.

"The Polynesian theatre is so small. The basic emotive responses could only be set within the Samoan community, but what if it had been in another?"

The 31-year-old Gaoa performed in the fa'afafine-themed A Frigate Bird Sings at the 1996 International Festival Of the Arts at Downstage Theatre in Wellington. His first short film, Day In the Light, dealt with Samoan youth suicide and was shown on TV One in 1995. He is optimistic about the future of Polynesian storytelling, using theatre as the appropriate medium.

"Seeing my film on TV taught me a valuable lesson. The pictures that appeared were not those I had in my head. I had handed over an apple and a watermelon came back. Pacific Islanders are oral people, so the theatre is accessible to them. Polynesian stories are beginning to evolve, to move away from the whole displacement thing. That's great.

"It has happened within 10 years. This is a story that can be universally understood. And we don't have the numbers to validate production houses doing The Polynesian Show on TV."

Gaoa became an actor by joining Pacific Theatre while studying film and television at Auckland University. There, he performed in its Summer Shakespeare series. His crossover into writing for the stage was cemented when he joined the comedy troupe Naked Samoans six years ago.

Other members of the group are David Fane, Oscar Kightley, Shimpal Lelisi and Robbie Magasiva.

"All members of that group write its material. I've also worked as a freelance actor doing the Auckland thing, you know, small parts in film and theatre. In film you can quite easily make yourself feel important.

"You can get people to run around after you. In theatre it's the exact opposite. You are grounded and therefore alive."

On stage

* What: Two Days in Dream

* Where & when: Herald Theatre, November 26-29, 8pm, matinee November 28, 1pm