Nora Vagi BrashCMGOBE (14 December 1944 – 23 April 2024) was a Papua New Guinean playwright and author. She was a laureate of the Independence Medal for her work as a playwright.
Brash told an interviewer "I started writing when I was about seven years old. My father and grandmother had passed away and I was fascinated by their burial sites, the smell of the earth, the way the moonlight fell on the trees. I would sit by the grave and write poems."[4] She became active in the theater, wrote scripts for puppet shows based on Papua New Guinean traditional stories, and eventually became the artistic director of the National Theatre Company, a post she held till she left for further studies at the University of Papua New Guinea in 1978.[5]
Brash wrote plays for stage and radio in a combination of English, Tok Pisin, and Hiri Motu, satirically dealing with conflicts between urban and rural people during the modernization of the country.[6][7] Her Which Way, Big Man?, first performed in 1976 by the National Theatre Company, depicts a pretentious public official and his wife giving a party to celebrate his promotion, but after he is accused of corruption it ends in a drunken brawl.[7]Taurama (1985), a historical drama set in the 16th century, centers on Kevau Dagora, who survives an attack on his village, Taurama. It incorporates dance and traditional ritual and spiritual elements of Papua New Guinea's culture.[6]
Her poems include the lyric poem "Song of the Winds"[7] and she published a collection of Poems in 2011.[8]
Personal life and death
In 1966, she married Elton Thomas Brash OBE, an Australian who was vice-chancellor of the University of Papua New Guinea and international aid consultant. They had two children and adopted five. He died in 1998.[2]
The High Cost of Living Differently: A Radio Play. (1976) Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies.[15][16]
Which Way Big Man? (1977) Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies.[15][16]
Taurama: A Play in Four Acts. Port Moresby: Owl Books.[16]
Black Market Buai, published in the literary magazine Ondohondo (Mid-1982): 18–22.[16]
Pick the Bone Dry. Ondohondo, no. 7 (1985–1986): 20–30.[16]
Which Way, Big Man? and Five Other Plays (1996). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Collects Which Way, Big Man?, The High Cost of Living Differently, Black Market Buai, Taurama, Pick the Bone Dry, and City Spirit (1995).[6]
Grandpa's Memories (1997) Oxford University Press[17]
Poems (2011) University of Papua New Guinea Press / Masalai Press[8]
^ abHowie-Willis, Ian, "Elton Thomas Brash (1938–1998)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 25 April 2024
^ abcLooser, Diana (2014). Remaking Pacific Pasts: History, Memory, and Identity in Contemporary Theater from Oceania. University of Hawai'i Press. ISBN978-0-8248-3976-5. JSTORj.ctvsrgvh.
^ ab"Archived copy"(PDF). Archived(PDF) from the original on 28 October 2023. Retrieved 25 April 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ abcdePolynesian Cultural Center (Laie, Honolulu; Brigham Young University--Hawaii Campus. Institute for Polynesian Studies (1996). Pacific studies. Joseph F. Smith Library Brigham Young University Hawaii. Laie, Hawaii : Brigham Young University, Hawaii Campus.
