O Tusitala: O se tala faatino fou a le tamaitai tusitala iloga o Samoa, o Sia Figiel. O lenei tala e faaaogaina ai le faafaleaitu, solo, siva ma pese e faamatala ai le tala i se vaitaimi tāua o le talafaasolopito o Samoa mai le vaaiga a tagata Samoa ma isi tagata o le Pasefika o ē sa nonofo o se vaega o le aiga o le alii tusitala o Robert Louis Stevenson mai i le 1890 i le 1894 i lona nofoaga i Vailima.
O tagata o loo i le tala e faavae i tagata o le talafaasolopito ma o le taimi muamua lea ua faamatalaina ai lenei talafaasolopito mai se vaaiga a tagata o le atunuu. O le ulutala o le tala ua toe faaigoa ai le igoa lea ua matuā fesootaʻi ma Stevenson: o le tusitala, o lē e faamatala tala, ae peita’i i le tala a le tama’itai o Sia Figiel, e avea ai tagata Samoa, ae lē o Stevenson, o Tusitala, o ē e faamatala tala.
O Tusitala o loo suʻesuʻeina ai le taua faalemalo a Samoa, le osofaʻiga a le pulega faakolone i Samoa ma le tetee atu i ai, a o faamatalaina ai foʻi fegalegaleaiga i le va o Stevenson ma tagata Samoa na ia faafaigaluegaina ma feutagaʻi ai i aso taʻitasi.
O Tusitala na faia lona ulua’i faaliga i le lalolagi ia Me 2023 i le Galumoana Theatre i Vaivase-Uta. O le tala faatino na faatautaia muamua e le alii faafiafia lauiloa o Tuiasau Uelese Petaia, faapea ai ma le au faafiafia mai le tatou Iunivesite i Papagalagala ua taua o le Dance and Theatre Company.
O Tusitala o loo iai musika ma siva a Samoa ma Hawaii, e aofia ai pese a Samoa mai i le faaiʻuga o le senituri lona 19 lea na faaalia ai le tetee atu i faiga faakolone ma na faatalitalia ai le atinaʻeina o le Mau a Samoa. O le tala na toe iloiloina lautele i totonu o le Samoa Observer ma sa auai ai tagata lauiloa a Samoa, e aofia ai le Afioga Fiame Naomi Mataafa, le Palemia o Samoa, le Sui Palemia, le aufaigaluega a le Matagaluega o le Igilisi a le NUS, polofesa i le lotoifale, tusitala, tusiata, tusisolo ma faipule mai le itulagi o le Pasefika.
O le Galumoana Theatre na fausia mo lenei faamoemoe ma o le a avea o se punaoa mo se taimi umi mo tusitusiga a Samoa. Na talimalo ai i le faitauina o solo a tamaitai tusi solo lauiloa o Caroline Sinavaiana Gabbard, Audrey Pereira ma Selina Tusitala Marsh, o le tusisolo Samoa pito iloga faapitoa i Aotearoa, Niu Sila.
I le masina o Aukuso 2023, na faaalia muamua ai O Tusitala i le Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, o se vaega o le Edinburgh International Festival Fringe. Na leai se avanoa i ia faaliga o le tala talu ai na faataua uma ona pepa totogi. I le masina lava lea e tasi, na faia ai e Sia Figiel ni faitauga lautele mai ana tusitusiga i Sikotilani, e aofia ai le Fesili & Tali na talimalo ai le Robert Louis Stevenson Club i le fale o Stevenson a’o laititi i Edinburgh. Na avea o ia ma Tusitala Faaaloalogia a le Iunivesite o St Andrews i le taumafanafana o le 2023.
O Tusitala o se tasi lea o galuega fou a tagata atisi Samoa na faatonuina e le Iunivesite o St Andrews faatasi ai ma le lagolago mai a le Scottish Funding Council, e faaopoopo atu ai i suʻesuʻega i musika masani a Samoa na faia e le poloketi a le NUS-St Andrews.
Polofesa Emma Sutton
Iunivesite o St. Andrews, Sikotilani
Ianuari, 2024
O Sia Figiel o se tamaitai tusitala mai Matautu Tai ua iloga i Samoa ma atunuu i fafo talu ona manumalo lana ulua’i tusi i tauvaga tusi a le Commonwealth Writers Prize Best First Book for the South East Asia South Pacific region i le tausaga e 1997. Ua ona tusia ni isi tusi talu lea taimi, o le The Girl in the Moon Circle, To A Young Artist in Contemplation, They Who Do Not Grieve, Freelove faapea lona faaliliuina o le Pouliuli, le tusi a le atamai o alii, le Susuga a Maualaivao Albert Wendt. Ua atoa le 30 tausaga talu ona femalagaa’i i Iunivesite i Hawaii, Fiti, Niusila, Amerika i Matu, Amerika i Saute, ma Europa i le faitauina ma le faatalanoaina o tusitusiga mai Samoa ma le Pasefika. O Sia na faiaoga tauofo i le Igilisi i Logoipulotu, Savaii i le 1997. E nonofo i Vaivase Uta ma si ana taifau o Measina.
O TUSITALA: TELLERS OF TALES – a new play by Sia Figiel
O Tusitala: Tellers of Tales is a new play by eminent Samoan writer, Papalii Sia Figiel. It tells the story of a crucial period of Samoan history from the perspectives of the Samoan and other Pacific islanders who lived as part of Robert Louis Stevenson’s household in the 1880s and 1890s. The characters in the play are based on historical individuals and it is probably the first time this history has been narrated from Indigenous points of view. The title of the play reclaims the name that has become strongly associated with Stevenson: here the Samoans, not Stevenson, are the storytellers. O Tusitala explores the civil war, rising colonial intervention in Samoa and resistance to it while also depicting the relationships between Stevenson and contemporary Samoans. The play is one of several new creative works by Samoan artists commissioned by St Andrews University with support from the Scottish Funding Council, complementing the research on Samoan customary music undertaken by the NUS-St Andrews project.
O Tusitala had its world premiere in May 2023 at the new Galumoana Theater, Vaivase-Uta. The play was premiered by eminent Samoan actor Tuiasau Uelese Petaia , with performers from National University of Samoa’s Dance and Theater Company. O Tusitala features Samoan and Hawaiian music and dance, iincluding late-nineteenth-century Samoan songs that express resistance to colonial intervention and which anticipate the development of the Mau movement. The play was widely reviewed in the Samoan press: see here for photos and press. [link to Samoa Observor; photos] The Galumoana Theater was built for this occasion and is intended to be a long-term resource for Samoan writing and creative art: it has hosted events including poetry readings by Caroline Sinavaiana Gabbard and Selina Tusitala Marsh, former poet laureate of Aotearoa New Zealand.
In August 2023, O Tusitala had its UK premiere at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, as part of the Edinburgh International Festival Fringe. The acclaimed performances by Sia Figiel were sold out. In the same month, Sia Figiel gave public readings from her work in Scotland, including a Q&A hosted by the Robert Louis Stevenson Club at Stevenson’s childhood home in Edinburgh. She was Writer in Residence at the University of St Andrews in summer 2023.
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