_{Cover Image: Toe Fai! and Talaucak. Image by Maeve O’Connell.}

Aqua Nullius

Studio Kiin

Blue Room Theatre

4 -15 August, 2026

In a world where memories are currency, how valuable are the traditions and cultures that live exclusively in the minds of displaced communities? How far would you go to preserve them?

These are the questions asked by Aqua Nullius, a “speculative Pasifikafuturism play” set in a future where climate disaster has sunk the Pacific islands beneath the ocean, making refugees of entire nations. Kalala is a second-generation climate refugee, born in the UK to a close family with strong cultural ties to their homeland of Tokelau.

Kalala shares stories of her culture with us and with George, the AI that runs the British Museum where she works as a tour guide, in the “testimonies” designed to preserve history. Maurea Perez-Varea as Kalala is emotive, funny and engaging enough to conduct the entire first act, Toe Fai!, almost entirely alone. Accompanied only by projections and the disembodied voices of George and her family on the phone, the story of Kalala’s struggle unfolds in snippets of her working day.

Grace O’Brien’s set is a simple cube of transparent sheeting, from within which Kalala and the staff at the data processing centre of act two interact with George and sort through their personal memory files, often choosing which ones to sell. This visual overlay of the digital onto the characters, combined with the precise lighting design, is a very effective way of reinforcing the AI system’s total control over its employees. The rest of the world is left to our imagination to fill in and, based on the projected snippets of newsreels, it looks bleak out there.

This dystopian future, where AI controls everything from what you say at work to the cost of medicine, feels almost too close to home. The twist of paying with memories is a fascinating exploration of both the current issue of digital data collection and the way the traditions of diasporic communities can become commodities after the original cultures are lost. Writer and director Emele Ugavule weaves powerful commentary into a very human story.

The second act, Talaucaka, expands this world drastically, introducing us to Kalala’s cousin and colleagues in the data processing centre that used to be the British Museum. Te Ata Tu Patelesio as Hio is funny and heartbreaking, a character struggling with displacement, loss of freedom and alienation from culture. Joined by Selina Alesana Alefosio and Kasaya Manulevu, the foursome give a surprisingly relatable depiction of working a mindless job under a colonial power. The dialogue is poignant and scattered with humour, making the second half of the show the driving force of its message and heart.

The sound design by Ephraim Frame elevates the show even further. Transitions between scenes are accentuated by hip hop songs and accompanying movement, but the real gut-punch comes when Kalala and Hio recreate a family memory and sing a traditional song, with Te Atatu playing the ukulele. On opening night, the audience included many of the cast’s family and friends, enough that a good chunk of the room could accompany the pair in song. It was an extremely poignant moment of togetherness and celebration of culture, especially in the context of the show’s depiction of displacement and the loss of these traditions. In that moment, I wished deeply that I knew the lyrics and could join in.

Emele Ugavule has created a complex sci-fi world that explores Indigenous Pacific perspectives on what could be a very real future, making for a fantastic show. The double bill of Toe Fai! and Talaucaka is running at the Blue Room Theatre until 15 August, and everyone who has a stake in the future of our society should go and see it.

The Blue Room Theatre – Aqua Nullius