What is UPU?
UPU is a body of poetry that comes from our Ocean.
Its a collection of voices from a people who live on a sea of islands connected by the largest body of water on earth, know to us as Te moana Nui a Kiwa, or the Pacific Ocean. In many of the islands in our ocean, UPU means word. We’ve taken the words of 28 poets; ranging from young voices, international activists, top Literary prize winners, to Poet Laureates, major influences in Pacific Literature; combined it and arranged it to create a snapshot, a Vox pop of stories and perspectives from our Ocean.
Stories like Hawaiians debating how they Cooked Captain cook, a young Maori trying to navigate their indigenous culture in an increasingly digital world, the joys that cans of SPAM have brought to Guam and other Americanised islands, a Polynesian woman’s rejection of Gaugain’s painting of Polynesian women, how a village boy in Niue seduced the missionaries wife, a plea from the Marshall Islands as they’re losing their homes to the rising sea and so much more.
Poetry is powerful when its read but when its performed its pure magic. Which is why we’ve entrusted these words to some of the finest Oceanic performers from NZ. Actors who connect these stories straight to your souls. Audiences are often baffled at the depth of feeling they have after seeing UPU. They weren’t expecting that poetry would give them such a profound experience. This is the magic of Poetry and Performance. In the theatre with a simple set design, evocative lights and projection and a multi layered soundscape that serve to elevate and deepen the experience.
UPU is a piece of theatre written by poets.
The show is in English and works best in spaces that feel intimate. Its presented in proscenium arch but also works in thrust. There is no other show that captures a powerful voice from the largest ocean in the world like UPU.
In UPU, prepare to be transported across the many Islands of our ocean and experience the power of her words.