Comments

Renee February 14th, 2016

What an inappropriate and obnoxious review of a personal, reflective one-woman play made lovingly and sensitively on a shoe-string, and refreshingly located in the Pacfic.

A striking kind of consumer rights attitude and customer service language in this review, too. Julia Campbell is not “trading on” her Pacific heritage, like she’s using it for a business proposal. She is reflecting on her heritage in a way that is sensitive, layered and subtle and allows for genuine resonances with others, others who are also interested in what it means to belong or be settled here in Aotearoa. Julia's work speaks to those who can watch the story and its imagery - including the pearl motif and its relationship to Rongo, to the sea, to memory, heritage and to disposession following colonisation and urbanisation - and watch openly and creatively. Not those who are trying to impatiently pin down Julia's "meaning" (since it was "promised" and you have your product warranty), but those who can let the inevitable elusive magic of another's story swirl in with their own to make new meaning.

Part of the power of minimalist, shoestring theatre is that it demonstrates the power of imagination, ingenuity, movement and voice. It puts theatre in the hands of all those who have these to hand, and little more. That’s why Julia works so well with children. She doesn’t “sell” them theatre, she sees it as a fundamentally human practice and a way of being, learning and exploring; not selling or entertaining.

Julia’s handmade props are charming, and allowed her to experiment with set design and scale as she took on roles as writer, producer, narrator and protagonist at once for this show. The children in the audience I was seated in went from restlessly whimpering before the show began, to being wide-eyed and captivated.

But have you also by the way noticed that the arts are terribly underfunded? And that it costs over $200 just to register for the Fringe Festival? If you’re so deeply offended by handmade props, why don’t you critique the lack of support for talented and dedicated practitioners like Julia, instead of looking down your nose at people who are as committed to a craft as she is despite the financial strain on themselves? (And instead of whinging because the koha was asked for before and not after the show - how precious ARE you for goodness sake?! It was a grassroots play, not the holy communion!)

Because it would indeed be nice if performers, producers, directors and teachers as dedicated and talented as Julia Campbell (and she does all of these magnificently) received some decent funding and remuneration without having to beg for it. Until then, why don’t you take into account that the arts are underfunded, and furthermore, that only 1% of the world’s wealth belongs to women, before writing about deeply committed, shoestring women’s theatre from the perspective of an old, entitled white man? (“Unfortunately that's it for audience participation”? So sorry you had plans to join in, John!).

As for intrigue and suspense, Julia was subtly exploring Pacific urban migration, colonisation, heritage and culture, race relations in Aotearoa, and how these play out within our families, our environments, and our own lives. ‘Scarborough Fair’ sits oddly because many aspects of New Zealand culture do sit oddly in the Pacific. This was obviously a song from Julia’s upbringing, and she reflects in her play and dialogue with Tangaroa on the very fact that it is out of place. That’s a result of colonisation, not of Julia.

“It is sad that she knows no songs from the islands because her parents and grandparents didn't either but just saying so is not engaging theatre” – for God’s sake, this play is a reflection on a lived experience of New Zealand culture and its relationship to the Pacific. Many people with Pacific heritage lament the fact they do not know their own heritage. Why are you reviewing this play in relation to your own arbitrary views of entertainment, rather than on its own merit, and according to its own perspective, objectives, constraints and notions of beauty?

That's the other great thing about the Fringe - we get to see experimental, grassroots theatre that doesn't pander to your demographic like arts productions are pressured to most of the damn time. This is your turn to listen, not make inappropriate demands to be catered to.

If you would rather see a high budget soapy love story or a Pixar animation or a whodunit, then why don’t you try Reading Cinema on a Saturday night next time. I’m sure what with the plush chairs and popcorn you’ll be fully serviced and provided for with everything an entitled old white man could possibly require. Or perhaps stick to Roger Hall.

Otherwise, you might have to accept that some meanings just aren’t “revealed” for those who are waiting impatiently for their delivery on a silver platter. Julia’s boat launched right at the beginning of her beautiful play John, it’s you who blimmin missed it.