Magdalena of Mangere offers an eye-opening portrait of a suburb that is more commonly viewed as the nondescript backdrop for a drive to the airport.
Writer, director and performer Louise Tu'u presents a uniquely personal and often surprising theatre experience that challenges expectations while building a warmly intimate relationship with the audience.
The show takes a boldly experimental approach to theatrical forms but maintains the down-to-earth realism of a personal documentary. The everyday life of a low-income community unfolds in a series of fragmented encounters which have an open-ended conversational quality hinting at struggles or conflicts too painful to speak of.
Although the work is centred on the playwright's distinctive vision, it is a richly collaborative piece clearly based on creative engagement with members of the community and a talented team of theatre practitioners.
A wonderfully evocative score, by Peau Halapua, is performed live with the composer's expressive violin phrases floating and, at times, soaring above the velvety rhythms of a euphonium played by Linda Filimoehala.
