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