No. 2: The evolution of a story to film to stage production

By Sarah Marsh

When Toa Fraser began his first draft of No.2, he didn’t have to look very far for inspiration. While not autobiographical, the show draws upon various characters in his own life, and reveals a piece of the Fijian community in New Zealand, of which he is a part. Fraser wrote the original one-woman play in 1999, with the intention of one day turning it into a feature. He began the process of converting it into a screenplay in 2001, and spent the next several years crafting and shaping it. Fraser felt that the concept of a one-woman play would translate better into a screenplay. Just as a film does not have the distraction of set changes or actor exits and entrances, a one-woman show could just as easily jump between different scenes and characters.

However, the film sharply differs from its theatrical predecessor in that it contains an entire cast of individual characters. The cast of the film includes everyone from relatives of Fraser to the iconic African-American actress Ruby Dee, who takes on the role of the Fijian matriarch. The film was shot on location in New Zealand, in a suburb of Auckland called Mount Roskill. This is the same neighbourhood that Fraser’s Fijian family have resided in for the last few decades. Here they were also able to utilize the local film industry talent, which have become internationally recognized after the colossal success of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, also famously shot in the small country.

Fraser was wary of turning over such a personal story into the hands of strangers. From the beginning, he was adamant on directing both the original play and later the film himself, despite any directing experience. He was finally able to convince producers of his capability, and the resulting success story has no doubt been highly rewarding. The film version of No.2 debuted at the Sundance Festival in 2006, where it was awarded the World Dramatic Audience Award. Meanwhile, the story in its original form, the one-woman play, has toured steadily and successfully all over the world, to critical and audience acclaim.

Toa Fraser’s No. 2, performed by its long running talented star, Madeline Sami, runs January 31 – February 4, 2012. Tickets start at $16 and are available online at tickets.thecultch.com, by phone at 604.251.1363 and in person at 1895 Venables Street.