Natives Go Wild

Natives Go Wild is a First Nations cabaret circus about the ugly days when Aboriginal and Pacific Islanders were virtually kidnapped to be freaks in the circus. PT Barnum, recently celebrated in the movie The Great Showman, is the main colonial villain.

Developed by Rhoda Roberts for an all too short season, it’s a tantalising mix of sad vignettes about lost performers, circus skills, great songs and high camp, acerbic commentary. 

Maori performer Mika Haka sets the tone as the queered ringmaster - charismatic, sharp tongued and only partly on our side.  True to circus, the six performers bring on distinct skills and characters, and bring alive those lost, original First Nation circus stars.

Wizard of the High Wire Con Colleano was a global hero but, like so many, concealed his Aboriginality, posing as a Spaniard.  Former Bangarra dancer, and here artful

choreographer, Waangenga Blanco gives him agile life against great archival footage. 

Aerial acrobat Josephine Mailisi plays the exotic if fictional showstopper, Feejee Mermaid; circus veteran Beau James the famed Little Nugget, Seini Taumoepau is the bearded woman and Rotuman Samuela Taukava a formidable black warrior.

Tim Chappel gives them all mad support with costumes of ragged grandeur and the songs from music director Damian Robinson are remarkably expressive, both urgent and toe-tapping.

It’s a simple if well-lit staging from director Chelsea McGuffin, a conspicuously under-rehearsed show and with some of these fascinating stories lost in the unpunctuated enthusiasm.   But with a cast this crazed and skilled, and a truth so vivid and wrenching, this, miraculously, is an entertainment must.

Martin Portus

Photographer: Anna Kucera