Masi - a magical tale of the Pacific

Masi, Directed by Nina Nawalowalo
Conch Theatre
International Festival of the Arts
Soundings Theatre, Te Papa
Until March 6th

Fijian tapa cloth or masi is made from tree bark which is beaten until soft and pliable and then the sheets are interwoven, and plaited until a mat is made. It is then painted or dyed with traditional shapes which tell stories, of individuals, families, villages and myths.

“Masi” similarly binds together a story of various threads all linked to and spreading out from the meeting of director Nina Nawalowalo’s grandfather and grandmother. This meeting of a Fijian chief and an English woman provides a cross generational, cross cultural story which is a personal journey of discovery for the director who performs as herself on stage.

While the play is an account of the meeting of the grandparents it is also a major collaboration in which music dance and set are major components. So the involvement of illusionist Paul Kieve, composer Gareth Farr and photographer Ans Westra are crucial to the concept.

The music superbly blends European instrumentation along and sounds of the Pacific with a score which is at times nostalgic, other times contemporary.

The series of photos taken of the couple in the 1950’s by Ans Westra are a cross between family snaps and posed studio shots offer another dimension to the work as private and public lives intertwine.

Central to the play is the dreamtime or reverie in which memory becomes part of the means to tell the story. Much of this is assisted by the illusionistic devices created by Paul Kieve, who was magic advisor to the Harry Potter films.

Early on a small plain box is opened and expanded until it becomes a large tapa decorated space from which a person eventually steps. It is both an astonishing magical illusion and a metaphor for delving back into the past to retrieve memories.

Kieve’s illusionist skills also see the grandmother wielding a magic cloth over a small seedling which becomes a full grown bush after a few passes of the cloth. Again not only are we aware of the growing bush, the branches of which will be peeled make Masi but also the passage of time.

Throughout the play large mats and their designs are used to carry the story forward. The mats are symbolic of the history and culture of the individuals and are used to protect and transform them through time and space.

The story of the couples relationship is presented with a series of brilliant vignettes in which large screens are used to make cinematic wipes which move the characters from one place and time to another,

This is a play with almost no dialogue but filled with chants and song. The main actors are at times participants while at other observers bringing a sense of wonderment and discovery as they recreate and rediscover another tale of the Pacific.

The play culminated in a vigorous display of Fijian dance by six splendidly attired dancers with a performance which brought the audience to its feet.

John Daly-Peoples stayed in Wellington courtesy the Comfort Hotel