Towards a New Pacific Theatre

This practice-led enquiry sets out to develop and test a model of theatre making – called a New Pacific Theatre – that reflects the geographic, cultural and spiritual dimensions of our environment. In this practice, actors are connected with their body and the earth (they have feet), the archetypal qualities inherent in nature and culture are incorporated in training and performance (return of the gods), a sense of adventure and risk-taking is emphasized, and it relates to the multiple cultures and communities in our environment. Presence, defined as the ability to be sensorially alive in the moment, and site-specific performance, a creative response to locality, emerged as the two key strategies to connect with self, other and environment. Based on selected principles, strategies and values from the whare tapere (pre-European Maori performing arts), devised theatre, the Michael Chekhov technique and Japanese Noh theatre, an intercultural approach to site-specific performance evolved, that interweaves the four pathways of connection, collaboration, exploration and transformation.