RICH PASIFIKA FLAVOUR WITH A TWIST WORTH WAITING FOR |
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) by Tanya Muagututi'a and Joy Vaele Directed by: Robert Gilbert PACIFIC UNDERGROUND at The Forge at The Court Theatre, Christchurch From 22 Jul 2009 to 15 Aug 2009 Reviewed by Steph Walker, 27 Jul 2009 |
Pacific Underground has been in Christchurch for 16 years, telling stories of Pasifika in a city not known for having a lot of brown faces. Angels continues that tradition, with a story firmly based in the heavy hand religion has on Samoan women, combined with soul and gospel music. It is great to see them working in partnership with Operate Trust and the Court Theatre to bring this production to life.
Sing (Bronwyn Turei), Stevie (Sela Leavasa), Eleni (Joy Vaele) & Rosie (Cassie Baker) have been friends from their first White Sunday, along with Sale (Ave Sua). They all have dreams of making it big in the music world, forming The Angels, an all girl band who play in the church, and (secretly) in nightclubs. The two hour play is framed around preparations for Stevie's 30th Birthday, one of the many examples we see of the steadfast commitment this group of women have for each other.
The Samoan flavour of Angels is strong, starting from the aqua blue set, cleverly designed by Julian Southgate, and continuing on with the religion that both supports and undermines the women throughout the 17 year span of the play.
At first a retelling of the Parable of Ruth, the group's White Sunday performance, Angels ends up reaching much further, delving in to Samoan girl power, the power of women and the obstacles we can overcome with the right attitude, a bit of sass and a good dose of humour.
All on stage are consummate musicians, the tunes (by Pos Mavaega & Tanya Muagututi'a) so catchy I could sing them to you now. The cast started tentatively but by the second half had hit their straps.
It is such an ensemble piece for the four women it is hard to single out any one great performance, but Bronwyn Turei, as Sing, gives a sensitive performance: spanning about twenty years in one show is no mean feat! Ave Sua, as the token male actor, does an awesome job of playing the token male of the group of friends, Sale, as well as the archetypal Samoan pastor. One of his best touches is the young Sale, in 1984, resplendent in one white glove and aviators paying homage to Michael Jackson. Shamon to that.
At the heart of this play is a great Pasifika 'chick-flick' style work. But we have to get through a lot to get to this, including a lot of flashbacks and flash-forwards that get more and more confusing as we go on. There is a subplot where Sing's daughter Maia (played with verve by Monique Togiaso) has leukaemia, which, while bringing the women together even more, could really be taken out in the interests of the work being a more manageable length.
I'm glad I do stay with the play though: the twist is better than any I've seen in recent works. This is a play rich in Pasifika flavour and deep in the Samoan culture. It deserves more development time to make it shine even more.
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Lindsay Clark