The Whale Rider, written by Witi Ihimaera, is "the triumphant novel that inspired the award-winning movie". Its movie version actually received audience award at 2003 Sundance Film Festival, people's choice award at 2002 Toronto International Film Festival, and Canal Plus audience award at 2003 Rotterdam International Film Festival. (pretty impressive!) It is about an eight-year-old girl Kahu who is to be the next generation's heir. However, because she is a girl, her great-grandfather Koro Apirana does not approve her as he is blinded by traditions. So this story is about Kahu's struggle to prove her as the sacred gift, the chosen one and to earn her great-grandfather's attention. This story, interestingly, was created when the author was inspired by his daughters and a shocking news. When one of his daughters said "Why are the boys always heroes?" and the news about which a whale swam up the Hudson River to Pier 86 announced, he decided to write the novel. As if it was destined to be written, this novel was created. If I was going to adapt this novel to the stage, I would choose to highlight the beauty of nature and the conflict between the role of gender and tradition.
Firstly, when I was reading, I liked the atmosphere of the Maori tribe. It gave me such feeling as nature-friendliness, freshness, and indigenousness. Their language, their tradition, all that kind of things made me think like that. Therefore, when I stage it, I want to have a really beautiful background. Assuming I am setting at black box studio, I want the background picture to contain green plain, hills, and field as well as beach and ocean. Maybe beach and ocean on the stage left and greens on the stage right. And I would like to have some sound effects like wave sound of an ocean and light wind sound. It will also be really good if I could compose a song of the tribe using Maori's custom language. As whales are their legend and are related to whale-rider (Paikea) heroic story, I want to have a whale sculpture made with stone somewhere on the stage.
Second, there is a major conflict about a girl being a new leader of the tribe. It is a similar theme to the author's daughter's point which was "Why are the boys always heroes while the girls yell out, 'Save me, save me, I'm so helpless'?" So I want to focus on that theme as I think it will be really interesting to show how hard to make a decision : tradition or renovation. Koro's standpoint is understandable because he, as a chief of Maori, has a duty to maintain the tribe's future. And Kahu's situation is also understandable as she, obviously, is the chosen one and there has to be an update in tradition if it is in need. Therefore, I want to stage it mainly focusing on that aspect. As a result, I think I may have to delete some characters who are not directly involved in the main conflict such as Raiwiri, who is a narrator of the novel, Jeff, and Rehua, but give more stress on Kahu and Koro. Also, I would like to add a storyteller (just like in Peter Pan) to tell the whales and gods stories.
Third, the props will be tricky part because it is in modern days but at the same time, they are a tribe who are somewhat apart from the contemporary culture. I would like all of them to wear a little old but not bad clothes. Just normal casual look, for example, T-shirts and shorts for boys and a simple dress for a girl (Kahu) to show that she is a girl. Even for the adults, I would like them to wear similar looking clothes to children's. I don't think I will use a digital projector. (I don't know when I will need it honestly).
It will be really interesting but difficult to adapt this into a scene. I think this novel also has as many features as other books we have read.
Ihimaera, Witi. The Whale Rider. Orlando: Harcourt, 2003. Print.
No comments:
Post a Comment