The Big OE

The BIG OE is a right of passage and adventure for kiwis. None more so than Will Watson whose re-collections of, Running with the Bulls in Pamplona, Visiting Chiang Mai Prison in Thailand, Surfing the razor-sharp coral reefs of Indonesia, Overdosing in Ibiza, Trapped 20,000ft high on a Himalayan ice fall in white-out, Losing a BBC camera an armed hold up in PNG, Street busking with fire chains and Saving two Australians life’s. This show explores the wild and crazy dimensions of the Overseas Experience.

The OE stories are seamlessly melded using restored 8mm and VHS film clips, married together with live theatre. The journey begins in 1976 when Will was 6 years old and travelled USA in a camper van with his parents who filmed the journey with an 8mm camera. His first adventure made the newspaper because they flew on a “jet plane”.

His passion for travel, film and photography started at 6 and the wild sides of the big OE are beautifully captured in photos and film pre-selfie and internet. As Will’s age goes up, so does the passport stamps, the need for excitement and risky far-flung places.

This is a journey from boyhood to manhood through the use of a jet plane to explore the wild, wild world of travel before it was sanitized and made safe by the internet.

Koha - a part of the Akl Fringe festival