Te Tupua-The Goblin, The Meteor Theatre 2003.
Solo theatre has a long-esteemed tradition in Aotearoa. The true pioneer who crafted a solo work and presented it over 1000 times in all manner of venues was Bruce Mason and his seminal work End of the Golden Weather.
In 2000 I created Te Tupua-The Goblin, as part of the M.A. I was doing at Charles Sturt University. I performed the piece in 2003 and have now in 2021 embarked upon a revival of this work.
As a writer of plays and opera libretto I have enjoyed the challenge of considering the history of Aotearoa/New Zealand as fertile ground for material and subject matter. Our history is complex and violent, and there is much about it which is distinctive and unique. The pre European time is beyond my imagination but I do know that Māori society was intricate, political, dangerous and learned. Upon the arrival of Europeans that world changed forever and thus began the ongoing interaction between Māori and colonisers in the battle for acquisition of land and political control. This history is part of my ancestry and as a dramatist and storyteller I relish in the many avenues of wonder, valour, cruelty, deceit and decency which is woven throughout these two hundred years. All these stories are mine to imagine and tell. Not all my New Zealand history stories are written for solo performance. Opera, community theatre and drama have all served but for this particular tale I hold the void for myself and step forward into the ultimate confrontation, an empty stage, an audience, silence and light. Begin.