Year 11 and 12 drama ākonga were treated to a visit by Greg Cooper, a professional actor, writer, and director, to enhance their skills and knowledge in acting, playwriting, and directing.
Level 1 and 2 drama students are currently deep into a Theatre Aotearoa unit, while also exploring the Pasifika playscript, Niu Sila, written by Oscar Kightley and Dave Armstrong. Niu Sila is the Samoan transliteration for New Zealand. Students are studying the playtext for their first internal assessments of the year.
The award-winning Niu Sila premiered at Downstage Theatre, Wellington, in 2003 and has since played all over New Zealand and internationally. The central device of Niu Sila is that two actors play an array of multi-cultural characters. Events in Niu Sila occur over a period of time from the late 1960’s to the early 2000’s and the characters move in and out of a wide variety of locations. Ioane and Peter attend school at a time before NCEA (when School Certificate was the first secondary school qualification) and when the intermediate to high school year levels started at Form One (Year 7) and finished in 7th Form (Year 13). Niu Sila is a unique New Zealand play and an excellent example of Pasifika Theatre, with its mix of English and Samoan language, contemporary slang, spoofing of stereotypes and physical theatre. The play touches on issues of racism, cross-cultural friendships, the importance of family, and makes allusions to the Dawn Raids of the 1980s. -- Auckland Theatre Company Education Pack, Writer: Louise Tu’u. Editor: Lynne Cardy, 2013.
Greg explored his experiences with the Pasifika text, playing one of the main characters of Peter (as well as many others) in two professional productions of Niu Sila, at the Court Theatre in Ōtautahi Christchurch, and The Fortune Theatre here in Ōtepoti Dunedin. He took students through the logistics of playing multiple characters, given the play is written for only two actors playing many multiple parts over the course of the narrative. Greg gave the students some fantastic tips and tricks to try out in rehearsals.
Huge thanks to Greg for his mahi and inspiring our young actors to extend their performance work by trying new approaches in acting. I look forward to seeing our ākonga explore this text further in class!
Artist Profile: Greg Cooper
Gregory has been a professional actor, writer and director for over 20 years. He began his career at The Court Theatre in Christchurch and wrote and directed some of their earliest school holiday productions. Since then his children’s shows have been produced and toured by numerous companies throughout Australasia.
He co-wrote and directed the New Zealand tours of THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF NEW ZEALAND and THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF WORLD RUGBY for the Real New Zealand Festival as part of the Rugby World Cup celebrations in 2011.
In 2014 he wrote and directed Mark Hadlow’s one man show MAMIL (MIDDLE AGED MAN IN LYCRA). Since then the show has been performed over 100 times nationwide with interest from Australian and UK producers to take off-shore. He was also commissioned by the Royal New Zealand Navy to write THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL NEW ZEALAND NAVY for their 75th Anniversary Celebrations.
In 2015 he co-wrote THAT BLOODY WOMAN, a musical about Kate Sheppard that played to capacity audiences at the Christchurch Arts Festival, Auckland Theatre Company and The Court Theatre before touring nationwide. In 2016 his latest show THE STREAKER was staged by The Court Theatre and Centrepoint Theatre in Palmerston North.
Most recently Gregory has directed STEEL MAGNOLIAS and O LE MALAGA FA’A’ATUA (THE JOURNEY OF THE GODS) for The Court Theatre and has also been commissioned to write a new main stage show. Greg has recently moved to Ōtepoti Dunedin.
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