Indian Ink via New Zealand Inc.: Hybrid exports for the global theatre marketplace

ABSTRACT

Indian Ink Theatre Company, founded by Jacob Rajan and Justin Lewis in 1997, is arguably the most successful international theatre touring company based in Aotearoa New Zealand. As of 2019, six Indian Ink plays have toured to overseas markets including Australia, Singapore, the UK, USA, and India: Krishnan’s Dairy (1997), The Candlestickmaker (2000), The Pickle King (2003), Guru of Chai (2010), Kiss the Fish (2013), and Mrs Krishnan’s Party (2017). The endeavour to sustain the company through these theatrical exports has involved changes in target markets, alongside changes in the identities expressed within their plays, moving away from a transnational interplay between New Zealand and India to a global orientation. Indian Ink provides a study of how a theatre company, operating within the specific context of (post)colonial New Zealand, practises hybridity in order to make highly portable plays to appeal within both their immediate locality and the global theatre marketplace.

KEYWORDS:

• Indian Ink Theatre Company
• Aotearoa New Zealand
• theatre marketplace
• hybridity
• international touring

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Dates provided for plays referred to in this article indicate the year of first performance.

2. Other contemporary New Zealand-based theatre companies that have pursued international touring include Trick of the Light, Little Dog Barking, A Slightly Isolated Dog, Red Leap Theatre, and The Conch, although none with the longevity and consistency of Indian Ink. Lemi Ponifasio’s dance-theatre MAU company have regularly toured their work on the international arts festival circuit.

3. “NZ at Edinburgh” was an initiative funded by Creative New Zealand enabling New Zealand artists to present their work at the various Edinburgh Festivals in 2014 and 2017, supported by a major marketing and public relations campaign promoting the works to audiences and presenters at Edinburgh. The theatre and dance works selected for the 2014 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, for example, predominantly reflected a Pacific New Zealand identity. These included: Te Matatini’s Haka, Black Grace dance company, The Factory musical by Vela Manusaute, Black Faggot by Victor Rodger, and Strange Resting Places by Paolo Rotondo and Rob Mokaraka. However, these were overshadowed by another work from New Zealand, The Generation of Z by David Van Horn, Simon London, and Benjamin Farry, an immersive theatre show representing a zombie apocalypse – the incorporation of the globally popular entertainment genre providing a stronger selling point for Edinburgh audiences than Aotearoa culture. See Wenley (2019).

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James Wenley

James Wenley is a director, dramaturg, critic and lecturer in theatre at Victoria University, Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. He is the editor of Theatre Scenes (http://www.theatrescenes.co.nz), a platform for NZ theatre reviews and commentary. He was awarded a PhD from the University of Auckland, researching New Zealand theatre’s overseas experience.