Themes and What does a healthy New Zealand look like?

Using “Themes” and “What does a healthy New Zealand look like?” pages, explore the ideas highlighted. You could use the following activities to help you unpack these ideas and connect them to the answers your will eventually write in your exam.

Brainstorm: Divide the class into five groups and unpack each of the themes, with one group focusing on “What does a healthy NZ look like?” Once you have written everything you can about your theme or focus, rotate around all the groups adding further information or ideas. You could use the following prompts to guide your thinking:

• Where did you see this theme or idea presented in the play? A specific scene, character or design choice. Describe in detail.

• What is challenging about this theme or idea considering the subject material? How does it link to what is going on in the world today? Describe in detail

• Quotes or scenes from the play that support or exemplify this idea.

Practical activities:

• Use what you have unpacked in your brainstorm as a prompt to devise or improvise a scene.

• Can you link the themes or ideas to a theatre form? Make a table of the features and how they appear in the performance.

• Sketch the set and annotate how technology was used in a moment where one of the themes is highlighted by the directorial and design choices.

• Write a personal response to the play and the ideas/themes.

• Write a short essay on how Polata’viao presented a theme or commented on the state of the medical system in a specific moment in the performance. Discuss the choices you think they have made, what was physically happening and use quoted evidence from the Education Pack to support your answer.

• You might choose to do this practically as a presentation, podcast (using voice notes on your phone) or a performance based discussion.