Reviewed by Malcolm Calder
Auckland Arts Festival
The Sun and the Wind
Taurima Vibes
Loft, Q Theatre
Writer and Set Design, Tainui Tukiwaho
Director, Edward Peni
With Taungaroa Emile, Julie Edwards, Joe Dekkers-Reihana, Tuakoi Okia
Lighting, Katrina Chandra
Sound, Eve Gordon
Until 24 March
Review by Malcolm Calder
Conceived during lockdown, Tainui Tukiwaho’s The Sun and the Wind is demanding for an audience. At times it mixes the real and the surreal, throws in a pinch of the tender and the touching, and then explodes with emotion, truth becomes blurred and we start unravelling things all over again. It is a highlight of this year’s Festival.
Set at a birthday party for an ageing couple, heartrendingly comfortable and practised in each other’s company, Hūkerikeri seems like a kind and gentle kuia caring for her Rangi in his dotage. I initially wondered if I had accidentally strayed into some kind of social commentary on contemporary aged care.
But the sudden and noisy arrival of a younger couple crashing into their home intent on robbing them quickly put that thought to bed.
The newcomers soon become mistaken for a long-deceased son and his pregnant wife – in the mind of the birthday couple anyway. From there The Sun and the Wind quickly becomes an emotional rollercoaster. Factual memory blurs with confused recollection, two levels of whanau intermingle and become one or maybe not, and quiet introspection gives way to sudden violence.
How much of it is real ? Perhaps that is summed up by the presence of a gun – which may or may not be real.
The Sun and the Wind owes something Aesop’s fable The North Wind and the Sun, a moral allegory which sees persuasion triumph over force. The way Tukiwaho spins it though, things are never quite that simple. That is why this play demands a lot from its audience.
Nevertheless, I occasionally wondered if Tukiwaho had over-written in patches, but he quickly jolted me back to the main course with more sudden and unexpected twists, turns and confusions.
Edward Peni directed with aplomb – an extremely demanding task on a play if this type.
Julie Edwards makes an enchanting Hūkerikeri, endearingly loveable but with sudden vituperative barks of fury. She is so, so on point. Taungaroa Emile gives us a Rangi, whose mind wanders with vivid clarity, his love of whanau omnipresent.
I felt quite sorry for poor Hihi (Joe Dekkers-Reihana) who is flung from doorpost to doormat as he struggles to make sense of everything. It is left to his heavily pregnant partner Kate (Tuakoi Okia) to slide the occasionally grounded, and often humourous, comment in from time to time.
Although it generates the occasional laugh, this play is not a comedy. It marks a big step forward for Tainui and demands a lot from its audience. So, if you are one of those who lament the plethora of highly subjective immature frivolity seen today on many of Aotearoa’s stages, you should certainly not miss this one.
New Zealand Arts Review 