Residency at Doon Academy, Scotland with Visible Fictions
Visible Fictions Theatre Company's artistic Director Brenda Murphy first saw Manaia’s work with children at the Party in the Park Festival in Slough in the Summer of 2004. Previously having worked in New Zealand, she was aware of Maori performing arts and was keen to introduce it into her work in the UK. The opportunity came up 2 years later when Visible Fictions was approached by the National Theatre of Scotland to work on the Transform Project. Transform is a pilot project for the development of method utilising multi media theatre as a focus for learning and development. It involves bringing together artists from a number of disciplines (playwrights, designers, musicians, movement specialists) and working with young people to create theatre.
The work was undertaken at Doon Academy, a high school in Dalmellington just outside of Glasgow. Manaia’s role was to teach the students movement and dance based on Maori cultural dance and performing arts including poi, haka and mau taiaha (Maori weaponry) and incorporate it into the theatre piece that slowly emerged over the 6 week working period. We had one trainer who oversaw Manaia’s role over the 6 week period and others that came in to teach various specialities over time. The result was a very moving production which involved over a hundred pupils.
"Manaia's contribution to the project has been wonderful. The team work to really motivate the students and this ensures that the work produced is incredibly powerful.
Manaia were fantastic to work with, collaborating on this multi-disciplinary project with openness and integrity"
Brenda Murphy, Visible Fictions
"I learned that I have more talent than I thought and I think I have grown my confidence"
"I thought we all did fab and made overall a great performance."
"I learnt that it is important to work as part of a team to make everything go smooth."
"People said it was great, worth missing the world cup for."
Quotes from Doon Academy students on the project
