Cutting back and forth in time from the filming of Return to Paradise in Samoa in 1952, Hollywood in 1973 and New Zealand in 2000, The play is a roller-coaster ride through cultural appropriation and the impact of the American film industry on the South Pacific (and vice versa).
My Name is Gary Cooper was greeted by rave reviews when premiered by the Auckland Theatre Company in 2007. Its sophisticated dramatic structure traverses several decades and questions the exploitation and stereotyping of Pacific peoples by Westerners. This contemporary revenge tragedy balances post-colonial politics, humour and eroticism in a gripping, original plot.