This solo show starts with a wel­come and karakia. After a seri­ous start it flips into a mad­cap sto­ry.  As the action pro­gress­es we hear a man telling us the sto­ry of his life —  what his par­ents were like, why he went to Viet­nam, what hap­pened there, and what hap­pened when he came back to New Zealand. It takes in mul­ti­ple time­lines and two world­views. The sto­ry is frac­tured and the man is broken.While we laugh at the sto­ries a sense of dread builds.

John Broughton has writ­ten a chal­leng­ing script. Te Kohe Tuha­ka does an incred­i­ble job to take us with him on this jour­ney. He and direc­tor Nathaniel Lees have worked care­ful­ly to allow the char­ac­ter to come alive in an envi­ron­ment that makes it safe for the audi­ence to watch. The design ele­ments in this show work togeth­er to enhance the emo­tion­al arc of the sto­ry. There are some arrest­ing images cre­at­ed by design­er Daniel Williams and light­ing design­er Lisa Maule.  Sound design by Maa­ka McGre­gor is sub­tle and threat­en­ing.

Tremen­dous.

  • Michael James Man­a­ia on at Down­stage to 4 March as part of the New Zealand Inter­na­tion­al Arts Fes­ti­val 2012