Transcript
Jonathan Soo Choon took one and a half months to produce his show titled 'Feagaiga' that was a part of Auckland's Basement and Beyond shows.
The work is based on a Samoan principle where brothers vow to protect their sisters, as they would the iris of their own eye.
"The meaning of feagaiga is pretty much the covenant or the relationship a Samoan brother has with his sister as well and just talks about how important she is within Samoan society and also within the family as well and pre-Christianity as well so I wanted to play on that idea as well."
He explored the Samoan legend where Sina gets kidnapped and her brothers set out to find her and bring her home safely.
"So the story is about a girl named Sina who falls in love with this bird named Logo Sina and she asks her brothers if they can get it for her as her lover. A sister is very important within a Samoan family and she's really important within Samoan society as well and I really wanted to play on that idea."
Seven people performed the piece - the performance cast, a co-producer and a musician, who played both drums and the guitar.
Mr Soo Choon produced it as part of his final year at the Pacific Institute of Performing Arts or PIPA.
His mentor, Olivia Taouma says such shows are a great opportunities for up and coming talent.
"And it is just great that PIPA has given this opportunity to their third year bachelor degree students to create their own work support them in their creative vision and processes so that when they create their own shows when they graduate from PIPA they know exactly what to do when they decide to be lone stars out there."
Samoa House near Auckland's Karangahape Road was once often used for community gatherings, but the size is often too small for such meetings now.
The fale was built in the 1970s and Mr Soo Choon and Ms Taouma explained its relevance to a new generation.
JSC: The world that I wanted to place my show in was in that Samoan fale.
OT: And it is quite interesting the connection Jono has made with that Samoan fale in KRd and our people here in New Zealand and Auckland it is quite iconic and a beautiful place to set his Samoan work and I think it is very fitting with what he is doing as well as the way he has seated everybody, it is quite non-traditional theatre.
Showgoers also had the opportunity to ask questions of the cast after the show opened last week.
"It's so cool cos it is a very popular story every Samoan early childhood and my 4 year old nephew when he sing those songs he knows the whole Tui song and Sina's song. "
"More feedback, congratulations I thought it was awesome. What I really liked was the contrast between we had silence and then when you came in with the singing and that was a beautiful surprise and I can definitely see it on the big stage, well done."
"First of all congratulations on all your hard work, it was a lot of work and tonight shows all your hard work has come to fruition."
Soo Choon says he'd eventually love to tour this work both within New Zealand and abroad.
