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Dave Armstrong

Two kids, two cultures, one street

DATE: 4 May 2004
TIME: 10am

Talk with top comedy writer Dave Armstrong about Niu Sila, the play he wrote with Oscar Kightley. Also talk with Conrad Newport, the director of the play.

Learn about the realities of writing and directing a play in New Zealand and discuss the themes of the play: friendship spanning over thirty years, two cultures and one neighbourhood.

Niu Sila – a Samoan transliteration of New Zealand – is a play about childhood friendship and Pacific Island migration.

Both Kightley, a Samoan, and Armstrong, a palagi, had close childhood friendships with children from the 'other' culture. During the writing process, they swapped hilarious stories of each other's culture.

"Even though it's full of crack-up comedy," says Armstrong, "I look at Niu Sila as a sad play. It's a sort of a requiem to a time in New Zealand where white and brown kids grew up side-by-side. They went to the same schools and their Dads and Mums often had similar jobs. Now that's all changed."

  • Find out how a comedy writer works (Armstrong's other stage and screen plays include The Semisis, Spin Doctors, Fly Me to the Moon).
  • Discover the personal stories that inspired the play.
  • Discover the realities of writing and directing a play in New Zealand.

Read the NBR review:
http://www.nbr.co.nz/search/search_article.asp?id=8708&cid=0&cname=Results

TO REGISTER FOR THIS FREE DIGITAL CONVERSATION, CONTACT lucy@cwa.co.nz

Telephone: (04) 382 6521

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