Red White and Brass: The Play
Stage adaptation by Leki Jackson-Bourne
Directors, Anapela Polata’ivao, Vela Manusaute
Musical Director, Joanna Mika Toloa
Production Design, Sean Coyle
Costume Design, Chrissy Vaega
Sound Design, Matt Eller
Choreography, Mario Faumui
With Haannz Fa’avae-Jackson, Mikey Falesiu, John-Paul ‘JP’ Foliaki, Onetoto Ikavuka, Saala Ilaua, Diamond Langi, Lauren Jackson, ‘Aisea Latu, Jason Manumu’a, Rocky Manusaute, Michaela Te Awa Bird, Kasi Valu
Original screenplay by Halaifonua Finau and Damon Fepulea’i
Co-produced by Piki Films and Miss Conception Films
A World Premiere
ASB Waterfront Theatre
Until 7 July
Reviewed by Malcolm Calder
Last weekend I had a cold and spent most of it confined to quarters. You know – a bit of this, a bit of that and an overly-heavy dosage of highly-predictable news, current affairs and media gossip monochromatically detailing financial woes, political faux pas, a couple of murders, the inevitable obsession with car crashes and countless opinion from a whole heap of ‘experts’ confidently predicting an imminent emigration across the ditch. I was miserable.
Then I went to the Auckland Theatre Company’s world premiere of a new stage production of Red, White and Brass: The Play! And I wondered what I was being miserable about.
The basic plot is well publicised and closely follows the original screenplay of the same name by Halaifonua Finau and Damon Fepulea’I about sporting underdogs who over-achieve just as Eddie the Eagle and those Jamaican bobsledders did at the Olympics. Hollywood loves a good sports story especially where the underdog comes out on top and this story has a unique local flavour.
But this stage production is more subtly nuanced, goes well beyond sport and is weighted more towards capturing hearts and minds in ways that both embrace and express the social psyche that is Tongan Māfana.
It is a thing that generates joy and, without being in the slightest bit didactic about all things Tongan,
it assumes a knowledge of many things in a long, long list. These range from the place of religion to the place of rugby; from gently acknowledging the contrapuntal role of the matriarch in a purportedly patriarchal society; from an acknowledgement that achievement rests ultimately on aspiration; from generational clash to resolution and to an understanding that even addresses the subsets within the contemporary urban Tongan diaspora in Aotearoa.
As Leki Jackson-Bourne has noted… this production is loud, proud and unapologetically Tongan. It is a statement about community, heritage and sense of self. But it is more than that. It also says something very important about our increasingly multicultural society and as such provides a further plank in the evolution of New Zealand theatre history. It does so with unashamed pride and joy, and celebrates both.
JP Foliaki reprises the movie role of Maka, arguably with more light and shade than the movie allowed, and his relationship with his ‘bit less Tongan’ cousin Veni (Saale Ilaua) is well handled. Overall the cast is strong and well-balanced and their choral work mesmerizingly memorable.
Sean Coyle’s busy set morphs well in multiple directions, the costumes are a hoot and the dialogue a completely understandable mix of Lea Faka-Tonga and English. The finale is a triumph- but no spoiler alert from me other than to say the band grows on one.
Congratulations to Auckland Theatre Company and mālō Leki – the last vestiges of my cold vanished on the spot!
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