UPU tours Canada in 2026

Despite two decades as a professional actor, Fasitua had never encountered the breathtaking work of the Pacific’s most celebrated poets. Their world-renowned voices, *our* voices, were invisible in the spaces he inhabited.

This realization sparked a simple, powerful idea: What if we brought these poems out of the books and into the light, sound, and movement of the theatre? What if we made them an experience for people who, like him, love to sit in the dark and watch a live performance? He teamed up with his mate Grace Taylor to work on this idea.

That idea became UPU.

UPU is an emotional awakening. It weaves together the published works of over 20 poetic giants of the Moana—like Selina Tusitala Marsh, Tusiata Avia, Tafea Polamalu and Albert Wendt—into a single, powerful performance. Set against a stunning backdrop of visual design, sound, and light, skilled actors give body and soul to these poems, transforming them into a journey of love, pain, laughter, and profound resilience.

From Aotearoa to Mexico City, and to a sold-out season at the Sydney Opera House, UPU has left audiences stunned and deeply connected. These stories are our truth-telling, and they resonate with a universal power. Now, we’ve been invited to share them on our most ambitious journey yet: an eight-city tour across Canada in 2026.