One of the few shows on in Welling­ton that are not part of the Fringe Fes­ti­val, The Brave is show­ing at the Han­nah Play­house until the end of Feb­ru­ary. Auck­land-based Mas­sive Com­pa­ny have devised a show which explores the ques­tion “What is it to be a man in 2015?” Using the same cast that looked at a sim­i­lar ques­tion in 2006’s Up Close Out Loud, it is a fas­ci­nat­ing insight into a pos­i­tive view of mas­culin­i­ty in New Zealand.

‘Pos­i­tive’ does not mean easy or uncom­pli­cat­ed. It does­n’t mean hap­py. Instead it is the acknowl­edge­ment of per­son­al growth and learn­ing towards pos­i­tive out­comes for them­selves and their whanau. Con­tent ranges from the mun­dane e.g. ‘I love KFC’ to more seri­ous issues such as abuse, men­tal health, body image, the abil­i­ty to be one­self. (It felt like being allowed a sneak peek into their cir­cle of friends. It made me won­der about what lies behind the faces of oth­er men.)

Mono­logues and shared scenes are inter­spersed through chore­o­graphed sec­tions that hint at the phys­i­cal lan­guage shared by men. Games, com­pli­cat­ed hand­shakes, work­ing out, dance, embraces — they are all part of the way in which men com­mu­ni­cate. The phys­i­cal­i­ty works itself into the sto­ries the men tell as well. Some stand apart to speak, oth­ers are backed up by one or more of the group. Hon­esty, and the desire to be tru­ly hon­est, per­me­ates every aspect of the show.

Every night there is a post-show forum which allows the audi­ence to ask ques­tions and share their own expe­ri­ences.  The cast and cre­ative team have cre­at­ed a reward­ing pro­duc­tion which man­ages to be both hilar­i­ous and pow­er­ful­ly affect­ing.

  • The Brave at the Han­nah Play­house until 28 Feb­ru­ary 2015.
  • N.B. Tues­day 24 Feb­ru­ary is koha/pay what you like night, mak­ing this show avail­able to every­one.