World War I needs more men to fight and Maori from Mataira Moun­tain are being asked to go. Grandma Mataira is vehe­mently against their going. Her son Waru believes fight­ing along­side Pakeha will bring Maori equal rights in New Zea­l­and. With his son Tai and Tai’s best Pakeha friend Alec Camp­bell, he volun­teers. Their exper­i­ence and her exper­i­ence are explored in this excep­tion­al new play by Witi Ihi­maera.

Grandma Mataira’s (Grace Ahipene-Hoete ) story is inter­woven with the sol­diers exper­i­ence over­seas. Ahipene-Hoete speaks in te reo for most of the play and con­veys both the strength and des­per­ate worry of the char­ac­ter.  Alec Camp­bell (Errol Ander­son) speaks to (some) of the sol­diers exper­i­ence. Ander­son makes a won­der­ful char­ac­ter shift from being excited about the war to show­ing vul­ner­ab­il­ity. Waru is played by Rob Mokaraka who grounds the play with his sol­id per­form­ance. His sons Tai (Joe Dek­kers-Reihana) and Ran­gi (Puri­ri Kōria) are light­er in char­ac­ter. Dek­kers-Reihana and Kōria bring a sense of lev­ity when the script calls for it, while also being firm in their abil­ity to sup­port the oth­er act­ors. Taungaroa Emile plays a vari­ety of char­ac­ters and is often cheeky yet always genu­ine in his per­form­ance. Kereama Te Ua is all phys­ic­al­ity and sounds as the ele­ment­al Wairua who appears on the edges, then in the middle of con­flicts. His pres­ence, along with Grandma Mataira’s per­meates the whole play. Kali Kopae is Arihia Mataira, Waru’s wife, Moana Ete is Erin Camp­bell, Alec’s moth­er, and Aman­da Noblett is Mere Mataira. They also play incid­ent­al char­ac­ters (which is an inter­est­ing reflec­tion on the eras­ure of the role women played in the actu­al fight­ing of the war. Heoi anō…) They are by turns fierce, tender, wist­ful, flir­ta­tious, and sto­ic. It is first rate example/s of sup­port.

This truly ensemble piece is expertly cho­reo­graphed by dir­ect­or Nath­aniel Lees. (The dazzling mau rākau cho­reo­graphy is by Kereama Te Ua.) Skil­ful integ­ra­tion of pro­jec­tion, kapa­haka, and theatre means that this is a vis­cer­ally intense per­form­ance. Tai­aha and mere zip past faces, act­ors run up and down the stairs. Wai Mihinui’s set design enhances the feel­ing of inev­it­ab­il­ity in the story, while show­cas­ing the pro­jec­tions by Jordan Beres­ford. Cos­tume design­er Moana Dav­ey man­ages to cap­ture the feel­ing of the per­form­ance while allow­ing for quick changes and blurred char­ac­ters.

Ngā mihi ki a koutou. Out­stand­ing.

  • All our sons by Witi Ihi­maera; dir­ec­ted by Nath­aniel Lees on at Circa to 14 Novem­ber 2015