The following is part two of an interview between novelist, performer, and playwright Sia Figiel, and artist, academic and educator Dr. Vanya Taule'alo, in Samoa on 2 May 2023. 

PART TWO – The Process, Edinburgh, Samoa, and the, Galumoana Blue Wave Theatre.

VT. What kind of research did you do to write this play and was it challenging to write?

SF. Joseph Farrell’s very thorough RLS in Samoa and Claire Harmans’s spellbinding Myself and The Other Fellow, were very helpful, in understanding Stevenson’s mental health as well as background information at the time plus reviews and scholarly papers found on JSTOR. The internet played a huge role too. Without it, I wouldn’t have been able to have access to much of Stevenson’s own writings, which are all available online. Each member of the family at Vailima kept a diary that was later published. Lloyd and Isabelle, Fanny, Margaret, Graham Balfour his cousin and biographer who lived at Vailima. In addition, Harry Jay Moors, who was his friend and had sold him Vailima and built Pineapple Cottage, and then later, the grand house that was simply called Vailima. 

As well, the internet provided rare photographs of Stevenson in Scotland and in his world travels, including the Vailima photos and his letters to Colvin, which were later published as the Vailima Letters. Furthermore, there were Samoan newspapers of the 1890s which chronicled his travels abroad, to Sydney, Auckland, and Honolulu once he settled at Vailima. I also watched documentaries, mini-series, and movie adaptations of Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which made me see the duality of man's personality and of human nature according to Stevenson. The actual writing didn’t happen until I returned home and visited Vailima which happened in February of this year, (2023) and I had a first draft by mid-March.  

VT. Your play includes dance and singing. Do you like to include multiple art genres in your writing? 

SF. With O Tusitala, Stevenson's theatricality and love of performance, and eclectic taste in music contributed to the genres in the play. For instance, he worshiped Beethoven and thought him immortal, a God, until he saw his first Opera in Frankfurt, then he said I wish life was an opera or I want to go somewhere where they sing about my laundry or something to that effect. My dear friend Seuli Allan Alo was a brilliant choreographer, and I deliberately made sure there was a dance in the play to honor our friendship and to give that extra layer of choreographed movement to the play. 

VT. Now the play is written, how does the collaboration process develop with the actors, musicians, dancers etc? 

SF. It is absolutely essential and the best part! Seeing your words and characters come to life via someone else's talent is like heaven, as Pulu in the sixth scene would say. Of course, it’s a lot of hard work. And I've been seeing that with Uelese Petaia whose dedication to the script is relentless. In addition to his developing awareness of each character which comes only by doing a lot of repetition drills and that takes time and I find myself growling at him, “Ok, go back. Roll your r’s. Remember, Fanny is American. Stevenson is Scottish. Father D is French. Convince me they are here!   Now do it again.’ And it’s that repetition that is pivotal to the retention of lines. That said, working with an actor of Uelese’s caliber is energizing. Rehearsals easily take up 3-4 hours of the day and the same at night. I had originally directed Uelese with what I wanted the characters to sound like, but I’ve eventually just had to let go and let him inhabit the characters, his way. There’s a point where you must trust the actor and the dancer and that's what it boils down to.

VT. How does it feel that your play is being performed in Samoa?

SF. I wish our parents and our Uncle Pepa were living to see it as we spent almost every Sunday of our childhood swimming at the pool at Vailima, decades before it became the villa that it is now. I have a very intimate relationship with Vailima that way. My sister and my brother and our cousins Tuti and Kaliu used to run up and down the stairs and I could still hear their footsteps as I was writing the play it made it more personal as I was enveloped with my own personal experiences and memories which I juxtaposed with my research to create this historical personal fictional work. I am also very moved by the outpour of alofa from people who just want to help and are excited to see the play come to life. Especially family and friends in Pago, Hawaii, NZ, and Scotland who have already booked flights. That's encouraging and motivates us to work harder to deliver a spectacular performance. 

VT. How do you think you will feel when your play is to be performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival?

SF. I will be performing it myself, so I am super excited and super nervous all the same, even though I have spent almost 30 years on the international stage. But the Edinburgh Fringe Festival is unique and is extra special because of its connection to Stevenson. It’s a huge honour and I am humbled by the acknowledgment of my work on such an internationally recognized stage. And I am very much looking forward to it. 

VT. Do you think there will be differences in the way a Samoan audience will respond to your play as compared to an international audience? 

SF. That’s a good question. Obviously, there are Samoan language asides that Samoans will get immediately. A non-Samoan speaking audience that includes diasporic Samoans knows Stevenson more because they’ve read him, and little boys and girls continue to read him as opposed to local Samoan children who ironically may not even have heard of him. But I’m curious to see for myself. And I encourage anyone curious enough to read Dr. Fanaafi’s stupendous translation of Treasure Island (Le Nu’u O Oloa) which is a brilliant introduction to Stevenson's work as a Samoan reader. 

VT. Are there any sensitive topics you were concerned about when writing for a Samoan audience? 

SF. None that I was concerned with. Contemporary Samoans are not as close-minded as they would have been in my teenage years which are many moons ago. Access to smartphones. Local and global news has meant people have become more open-minded. More curious. More excited by the mere fact that someone is interested in a part of history they don’t know and want to know more about. Besides, the play was not written for Samoans exclusively but rather, for an international audience that includes Samoans with nuances that are universal to the human experience.

VT. What does the play say about life and colonial life in Samoa?

SF. The Stevensons were uniquely progressive, which distinguished them from other colonial families of their time. If anything, they were ahead of their time. Fanny for instance was in the garden and the land.  Supervising the outside work. Making sure the grass was cut, the plants planted the animals fed so Stevenson could be indoors writing. This was disturbing to Stevenson who was raised a Calvinist with a strong work ethic, and when he did go outside, he would return to his desk and write to his friends, Colvin, or the American writer Henry James, ‘I love weeding!’ which anyone who had to care for the land knows otherwise. 

Samoa was much more international then, than we think with the presence of so many languages at that time. Languages Samoans spoke - German, French, American and British English, some Mandarin, some Solomon Islands pidgin. And Samoans traveled far and wide. To San Francisco, Chicago, Papua New Guinea, Berlin, etc. 

VT. What would you like the audience to take away from the play?

SF. To have a deeper appreciation of our past and our history. To be true to who we are and what we stand for. To accept our vulnerability not as a weakness but as a strength. And to live each day as if it were our last. Stevenson did. He was only 44 when the Samoan warriors carried him up Vaea to be laid to rest 

VT. One very exciting development is the emergence of your theatre “Galumoana, The Blue Wave Theatre.” Discuss how this happened and your hopes and dreams for your theatre in Samoa.

Once I had a solid script, I sought assistance in getting it staged. Just when I thought we had the support we were so sure we were going to get, the rug got pulled from under our feet. But I was determined to have the play staged. You know what they say if the mountain doesn’t come to Mohammed… So, my parents, Galumalemana Stan, and Vaigalepa Moana Toomalatai Figiel owned a restaurant in the ’70s called the Fiafia Steak House at Vaivase Uta. It gave joy and fun memories to generations of people. It's an enigmatic space with its own history and for the longest time, I thought about what to do with it. Long story short, I decided to turn it into a theatre. To feed people’s imaginations, with what theatre does best, which is to provoke, entertain, and tell stories, with meaning and wonder.  

• Sia Figiel grew up in Matautu Tai, on the island of Upolu, in Samoa. Her father was Polish-American and her mother was Samoan. Sia grew up surrounded by Fagogo (legends and proverbs) and Faleaitu. These stories dwelled deeply in her psyche, and she carries them close to her heart as they are a constant source of artistic inspiration and connects her closely to her culture. She is a novelist, performance poet, and playwright. This year Sia will travel to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival where she will perform her play O Tusitala; Teller of Tales. Vanya Taule'alo has lived over 40 years in Samoa where she is an artist, and educator, and has written widely on Samoan and Pacific art.