Humans of the Islands - James Nokise
JAMES NOKISE
COMEDIAN/THEATRE MAKER & WRITER
SAMOAN/WELSH
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I'm a comedian, theatre maker, and writer. I grew up in Wellington which is probably why I like experimenting across genres and maybe why there's so much politics in my work.
My parents are immigrants. Dad came over on a banana boat (like a real one) in the 50's from Samoa, and Mum came over from Wales, with Dad, in the early 80's.
You're in the middle of a show at the moment, have you got another show coming up?
I've got a couple. My show, Rukahu, is a one man play at the Basement Theatre (showing now 4th-8th July), I'm in a puppet show called Puppet Fiction the following week at Basement, and then I fly to the UK, for the Edinburgh fringe festival to do Puppets and my solo comedy hour: Britain, Let's Talk About the Golliwogs.
Is the premise for your show based on any personal experiences?
Rukahu comes from the surreal conversations I've had at Pacific Island Arts openings with non-pacific islanders and what they interpret as Pasifika.
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How has your upbringing + culture shaped you into the man you are today?
Well I'm an alcoholic, so...
Being mixed race, I'll often try and see the other side of an argument, even ones where I have very strong opinions, because I'm used to having to interpret where my relatives are coming from. And Also I guess I have "wandering feet" in that I'm always travelling.
Who are your biggest inspirations and why?
Other artists I meet at overseas festivals. It's really fun to see people coming at the same subjects from different angles, but also going through the same struggles in their homeland.
What are your goals for the future?
Well there's these Captain Cook celebrations happening in 2019, and I'd really like to have some projects ready for that...
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Enjoy this snippet of James in action in the vid below ...