HONIARA (Pacific Media Watch): Preparations are underway for the Fifth Melanesian Festival in Port Moresby in June, with the Solomon Islands' first-ever national theatre group set to perform.
The all-women Stages of Change group has formed as part of a two-year theatre workshop project delivered jointly by the Solomon Islands Planned Parenthood Association (SIPPA) and managed by the British Council and the Conch Theatre Company (NZ).
Nina Nawalowalo and Tom McCrory, artistic directors of the Conch theatre company based in Wellington, New Zealand, say the company plans to deliver an unscripted anti-violence message using movement and imagery.
“You have to be very careful how you make material and what you put on stage, so firstly that the women feel safe with it and that you are not cutting men out and placing pure blame - how you explore that,” says Nawalowalo.
This, combined with the portrayal of violence, brings total silence from the audience. "When we present these images back to our men they are deeply moved. They see the long line of women who are their mothers and grandmothers going back to another time," she says.
Nawalowalo is a New Zealand-Fijian theatre director whose productions have included seasons at the Sydney Opera House and London's Barbican.
The performance at the Fifth Melanesian Festival will be the first time a theatre group will represent the Solomon Islands internationally, and the first time women, rather than men, will have that honour. Usually it’s the men’s traditional pan flute performers who perform internationally.
Performers from New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, the Torres Strait Islands, West Papua and Timor-Leste will be performing at the Festival.
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Karen Abplanalp
