MY GRANDFATHER IS A CANOE

Hannah Playhouse, Cnr Courtenay Place & Cambridge Terrace, Wellington

24/02/2023 - 26/02/2023

NZ Fringe Festival 2023

Production Details


Adapted from the book by Faumuina Felolini Maria
Producer / playwright/ performer: Faumuina Felolini Maria Tafuna’i
Director: Marisiale Tunoka
Production Manager: Mau’u Sio Ifopo
Lighting and Visuals: Errol Head
Illustrations by Silivelio FasiMusical director: Siaosi Kei
Actors:
Toa: Lopeti Sumner
Tama : Siaosi Kei
Aunty: Selau Ifopo
Musicians: Samson Kei and Siaosi Kei.

FLYING GEESE AND INATI AOTEAROA


Come sail upon the Pacific Ocean aboard a waka filled with poetry, music, laughter, love and tears. This multi-award-winning play is presented by Flying Geese and Inati Aotearoa.

Adapted from the book My Grandfather is a Canoe by Faumuina Felolini Maria Tafuna’i, this co-devised play reaches into the lives of Pacific Island peoples while being guided by ancestral stars above the vast and nourishing moana.

Hannah Playhouse, 12 Cambridge Terrace, Te Aro, Wellington
24 – 26 February 2023
6pm
BOOK


Adapted from the book by Faumuina Felolini Maria
Producer / playwright/ performer: Faumuina Felolini Maria Tafuna’i
Director: Marisiale Tunoka
Production Manager: Mau’u Sio Ifopo
Lighting and Visuals: Errol Head
Illustrations by Silivelio FasiMusical director: Siaosi Kei
Actors:
Toa: Lopeti Sumner
Tama : Siaosi Kei
Aunty: Selau Ifopo
Musicians: Samson Kei and Siaosi Kei.


Music , Pasifika contemporary dance , Dance , Dance-theatre ,


1 hr 30 min

Connecting the waters,  the oceans,  the heavens in poetry, script,  personal opinion and song, we are the wayfarers

Review by Deirdre Tarrant 26th Feb 2023

There is a wonderful generosity of spirit that manifests from the very beginning of this production as the cast enter and build the waka onstage that is to take us, together, on a three month journey. In 40 minutes! 
A sense of humour and happiness pervades the space as writer and woman warrior Faumuina Felolini, Maria Tafuna’l and her crew embark on her Grandfather’s voyage. Lifjeackets are put on with amusing but serious instructions and we travel to the words of poems written by Tafuna’l i using text from her collection My Grandfather is a Canoe.   Connecting the waters,  the oceans,  the heavens in poetry, script,  personal opinion and song, we are the wayfarers and the way-finders. The dilemma of climate change and rising sea levels in the pacific, the stars of Matariki, the love within a family, relationships and respect , intimacy, honesty, joy and sorrow. All a part of this tapestry and story until the call is “Land Ahead”. We disembark to  finish with a talanoaina, discussion that introduces each of the cast and explains something of the journey of the making of this story.   
Definitely feeling  inspired by the stories, the humanity and the rhythms of our Pacific we venture out into the rain to continue on our own journeys warmed by everything in this canoe.
Effective production values and design, with excellent guitar and song accompaniment encompass the whole show. I felt that vocally it was a little inconsistent and sentences tended to die at the ends but this is a quibble. My Grandfather is a Canoe is a very promising work that deserves to be shared and seen. One that speaks emotionally to those of the Pacific –  that is all of us. Thank you.  Faumuina Felolini Maria Tafuna’i to the stage. A journey through songs, dance, poetry accompanied by illustrations by Silivelio Fasi. Directed by Marisiale Tunoka and the other performers and musicians are: Lopeti Sumner; Siaosi Kei; Selau Ifopo and Samson Kei.

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