The first Kumu Kahua production I reviewed for INhonolulu, Jean Charlot’s Moa a Mo‘i, could not have elicited a more dramatically different response from me than the independent theater’s most recent production, Victor Rodger’s My Name Is Gary Cooper.

While Charlot’s play about one of Hawaii’s most famous folk heroes seemed hollow, outdated and, frankly, uninteresting (despite the actors’ valiant efforts), Rodger’s play gripped me right from the start, engaging me with complex questions of identity, love, revenge, and exploitation. Rodger’s examination of the exploitation of the Pacific region, the legacy of Colonialism there, and the misrepresentation of its peoples in white institutions such as Hollywood is brilliant. (Watch an interview with Rodger conducted by Kumu Kahua Managing Director and actor Donna Blanchard about the process of creating the play.) [More]

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My name is Gary Cooper, originally produced in New Zealand by Auckland Theatre Company in 2007, (following a ‘Next Stage’ development in 2006) opens in Honolulu at the Kumu Kahua Theatre to the strains of “high on believing… that you’re in love with me”, and ends in rapturous applause. 

Historical Hollywood depictions of the Pacific as a theatre of war, or fantasies of paradise, have often cast American or other outsiders as the main protagonists (sometimes with blackened faces), with Pacific Islanders in supporting roles. Contemporary Pacific Island authors, such as native Hawaiian playwright Tammy Haili‘ōpua Baker, Rotuman film director Vilsoni Hereniko, Papuan New Guinean, Fijian, Māori and Samoan writers, such as Alice Te Punga Somerville, Witi Ihimaera and Albert Wendt have generated work that represents Pacific Island values, experiences and perspectives, and in some cases also elevates the use of indigenous Pacific Island languages.

Like some of his contemporaries, Samoan New Zealander Victor Rodger, author of this latest production to hit the Kumu Kahua Theatre, (home of contemporary Hawaii-centred theatre in Honolulu), unsettles some of the historical Euro-American depictions of Pacific Islanders through focussing on the personal experiences, day to day realities, and complexities of Pacific Islander encounters with colonial legacies and globalised forces. “What if,” Rodger asks, “a brown character entered the white world instead, and stirred things up? What would it look like?”

The narrative for My Name is Gary Cooper unfolds from the 1950s to the year 2000, between celluloid curtains, steel guitars, top of the pops hit tunes, polyester shirts, kaftans and Samoan ’ie tōga (fine woven mats) as material markers of scenes and time shifts between Samoa, Auckland, New Zealand, and Hollywood – home of tinsel town dreams.

The cast includes a real-life Samoan university professor (Fata Simanu-Klutz) playing the pragmatic Salamoana, and a Samoan dancer from the Polynesian Cultural Centre (devastatingly handsome Jo Ramsey) in the title role of Gary Cooper. Under the skilful guidance of Kiwi director David O’Donnell, they respond with sensitivity and nuanced performances to potentially difficult themes of love, loss, revenge, prostitution, and suicide.

Pacific Island theatre of this quality, that counters the myopic thrust of cinematic forays into the Pacific such as Return to Paradise (featuring the original Gary Cooper), while revealing common human frailties, deserves investment and repeated success. The underlying messages, and cultural integrity of this production resonate with experiences far beyond the slopes of Titirangi, the sands of Lefaga beach, Malibu or Waikiki.

One-liners, such as “Love is shit”, confront us in this production with personal experiences of shattered dreams, loss of innocence, feigned commitments, and the complex perpetuation of inter-generational tragedy.

Kiana Rivera as Teuila, Gary’s mother, transforms herself in a heart-wrenching performance from a youthful, exuberant but innocent taupou (daughter of a Samoan chief), into a lonely, distraught victim, while also doubling as T, a wide-eyed graduate researcher from UCLA investigating the representation of Polynesians in cinema.

Bronwen Souza and Randall Galius, as the Californian twins Jennifer and Joel Wright, compete for the affections of Gary and audience alike, with physical banter, bathing trunks and perfectly timed repartee. Donna Blanchard, who plays their mother, Connie, seizes the role of dissatisfied wife and faded actress reminiscing through the bottom of her martini glass with acuity and wit. Her husband, Nick, played by Cris Cordio, is ill-equipped to deal with his own shortcomings in a pivotal scene where he is confronted with his own past.

Reference to “multiplexes with as much character as a Tom Cruise movie” remind us of the unfortunate competition community theatre often faces. The full house on opening night for My Name is Gary Cooper’s should send ripples of interest throughout the region.

Salamoana asks: “Wanna see Paradise?” If you’re in Hawai‘i between now and the 22^nd of February, go see this show and prepare to bathe in its sensual complexity. 

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