Who is Ana Corbett?
An actor, voice-over artist, producer and mum from Aotearoa, now based in Naarm/Melbourne. I have Tongan, Fijian, Samoan and Irish heritage and I’m a performer and the producer of UPU – a theatre work bringing together the words of extraordinary writers from across our ocean, Te Moana Nui a Kiwa, the Pacific Ocean.
After a sold-out Australian premiere at the Sydney Opera House last year and a landmark four-week national tour of Canada earlier this year, we’re very excited to be bringing UPU back for seasons in Parramatta and Melbourne.
I live with my awesome kids, Otis (8) and Tallulah (5), and my partner Sam Jellie, a film gaffer who shapes light for the movies and is very very good at it. Most days I’m bouncing between acting, producing, voice-over work, parenting, after-school activities and playing I Spy in the car while we’re in transit to all the things.
What would you do differently from what you do now?
Probably do less. Producing and performing in UPU while touring with my kids has taught me that perhaps I don’t need to do absolutely everything myself, still learning this lesson. Therapy is helping. I’d trust my instincts faster, overthink less, delegate more and leave a little more space for rest.
Who inspires you and why?
My family and my kids. My beautiful island mum Kahoa still doesn’t quite understand why I gave up being a long-haul flight attendant at Qantas to work in the arts (it’s been 15 years, Kahoa), but she’s also my biggest supporter and UPU’s unofficial hype gurl – somehow finding every relative and Polynesian living abroad through the coconut wireless and getting them along to our show.
My dad Ben is a lifelong social activist, high school teacher, a kidney recipient of 40 years thanks to his younger brother, and an all-round legend. My sisters have set the bar pretty high too: Makeleta is an Air New Zealand pilot, Sela is a firefighter and World Firefighter Games record holder, and Joan is a nurse specialising in plastics and complex hand injuries and making specialist casts for adults and kids. Our parents taught us early not to be afraid of hard work, and that has well and truly stuck.
Through UPU I’ve also found such an important acting village. This industry is incredibly rewarding but also bloody tough, especially when you’re balancing it with being a mum. I’ve learnt so much from this collective, particularly the women who have held me through some pretty wild storms.
Having people who understand the highs, the lows, THE HOLDS and the persistence it takes to keep doing this work is pretty special. Our incredible tech crew and designers have held the show through some very wild touring schedules too. I’m constantly inspired by the people around UPU, they keep me grounded, keep me cackling and keep the whole thing moving.
What would you do to make a difference in the world?
Fund the arts more, more, more. Theatre, music, poetry, film, dance, visual art- all of it. Let’s make a pact to eat it all up. Go see things. Read things. Listen to things. Make things. Support artists. More art everywhere please. A huge part of producing UPU has been creating more space for Tagata Moana voices on stages around the world.
I want more pathways, more opportunities and more ways for artists to actually survive while making the work. And while we’re at it, I’d shut down the attention casino. Social media has pretty much become a slot machine in our pockets and I worry about what that constant feed is doing to our attention, mental health and especially our young people.
Let’s ditch the mobile phones and bring back landlines. Bring back awkward private conversations with your crush in the lounge while your entire family pretends not to listen. Just be in the world. This world. Before we burn it to the ground.
Favourite holiday destination and why?
Our family bach (home) on Rakino Island in Aotearoa. It’s completely off-grid, there are only about 3km of road, no shops and life gets very simple very quickly. It’s my favourite place to exhale a bit, do very little and be with family, especially after a tour when my brain has been operating in about 47 tabs at once. And Tonga. It’s been a few years since I’ve been back and my youngest has never been, so I’d love to take the kids there.
When friends come to town, what attraction would you take them to, and why?
Probably Preston Market, my favourite Sunday morning thing to do with the kids. I love the theatre of a good food market, everyone talking, eating, yelling things and getting very very excited about food. I could happily wander around eating for ages.
Or I’d get them out into rural Victoria. We camped heaps growing up and I’m trying to do more of that with my kids, although Otis has watched far too many snake documentaries and is currently convinced any camping trip here will end in a snake bite. So I’m working on that.
What are you currently reading?
Spending years performing the words of extraordinary Māori & Pacific poets through UPU has made me want to keep discovering more of it. I love the simplicity and potency of poetry especially at the end of a wild day, when a few beautifully chosen words can somehow help me land back into my pillow. Currently beside my bed is Always Italicise: how to write while colonised by Alice Te Punga Somerville and Ans Westra: A Life in Photography by Paul Moon. Read more poetry, always.
What are you currently listening to?
Yaw’s Where Will You Be and Everything by Gotts Street Park are my current morning song favs. Lots of Cleo Sol and SAULT, always. Cleo Sol’s voice is incredible. My kids are loving Michael Jackson, Otis Redding and Paul Simon, which I’m taking as a solid parenting win. And Ritual Union by Little Dragon is doing duty as my workout warm-up.
Happiness is?
Laughing with my kids. Watching them climb the beautiful big tree in our backyard. Seeing how at home they are around their arts village. Sam’s cooking. Being near the ocean. Fresh seafood. Smoked salmon. Sauerkraut. Dinner with people I love. Seeing a piece of theatre or a film that completely blows me away. Melbourne coffee. The hype is real. Sorry, Auckland. You’re a super duper close second though.
What does the future hold for you?
Right now, UPU. I’m producing and performing in our Australian tour and I’m excited for more audiences here to experience these extraordinary Māori and Pacific voices. There’s such a huge Māori and Pacific diaspora in Australia and we need more of our stories in mainstream spaces.
Then we take UPU home to Aotearoa to close the Kōanga Festival at Te Pou Theatre, six years after our world premiere at Auckland Arts Festival with Silo Theatre which feels like a pretty special full-circle moment.
UPU Collective has also secured the rights to Epeli Hau‘ofa’s Tales of the Tikongs, which we’re developing for the stage, and I have a Seed funding deadline looming for a feature film I’ve been developing through a screen mentorship with PISA (Pacific Island Screen Artists) and the New Zealand Film Commission.
And amongst all of that: more bold acting roles that stretch me, more questionable baking experiments with my kids, more beautifully unproductive time with my family and leaving enough room to actually enjoy the chaos.
Ana can be seen in UPU – which will be presented at Riverside Live at PHIVE, Parramatta (28 & 29 August), before playing at Robert Blackwood Hall – Monash University, Clayton (4 September) and Wyndham Cultural Centre, Werribee (5 September).
Image: Ana Corbett (supplied)