A LITTLE BROWN LIE

Te Pou Theatre Website, Global

17/09/2020 - 27/09/2020

Kōanga Festival 2020

Production Details



I tēnei whakaari poto a Annette, ka tono a Aroha ki tana hoa kōrero Māori ki a KC ki te āwhina i a ia ki te moe i te tāne tika mā te ipurangi engari ko wai ka mōhio he aha kei tua i te awe māpara?

In Morehu’s fun new short work, Aroha enlists her reo speaking bestie KC to help her snag Mr. Tika online with unintended consequences.

Mātakitaki mai @ 7pm hei te 17 o Mahuru ki ngā Pae Pāpaho Pāpori a Te Pou RELEASED 17 SEPTEMBER 2020
Premiere on Facebook and available through Te Pou social media channels: (Facebook & Youtube). 



Webcast , Theatre , Te Reo Māori , Audio (podcast) ,


Pitch perfect interplay of comedy and drama, te reo and English

Review by Steve La Hood 20th Sep 2020

A Little Brown Lie has a delicously simple premise. Aroha (Tuakoi Ohia) is searching for the perfect Tinder date. He has to be hot, Māori and not as far away as Hokianga! Her flatmate KC (Baylee Watene-Kay) doesn’t rate using social media to find a boyfriend. She’s more centred and less ‘desperate’ than Aroha.  

Then it happens! The Māori Adonis – Te Koha (Mataara Stokes) is online. Stupidly, Aroha messages him in the simplest Reo Māori and WTF… he replies in accomplished Te Reo… which Aroha doesn’t understand and needs KC to help. Reluctantly, KC translates Aroha’s messages to Te Koha and his replies to Aroha. It’s all on!

Then comes the problem. He might be Mr Tika, but Aroha has set herself up with a lie. Disaster impending. 

Annette Morehu’s script is pitch-perfect. There are some gloriously funny lines: “Ngati Porou? He’s Paul Goldsmith’s cousin” and “You need to stop looking for your Reo at the end of an ure – it’s not sexually transmitted!” LOL. I love how our two languages interplay in the script.

The play is carried off superbly by Tuakoi and Baylee. Comfortable, real and throwaway. When the crisis happens and Aroha realises her predicament, the play gets serious. You can believe Aroha’s fragility and whakamā at not being proficient in her own language, just as you can admire KC’s understanding and tiaki. “You are more than your inability to speak Māori”.

As the male sex-symbol, Mataara keeps it cool. He comes across as indeed the perfect match: handsome but honest.

A Little Brown Lie is nicely put together as a film too. Te Koha’s ‘apparitions’ in the girls’ living room don’t jar – they add to the tension of the script. It’s simply photographed and allows the dialogue to flourish without drawing attention to the mechanics.

If you get a chance, watch this sweet little ditty. You’ll love it.

See here – scroll down to A Little Brown Lie and select your channel of choice.

Comments

Make a comment

Wellingon City Council
Auckland City Council