No. 2
Silo Theatre
Review: Richard Howard
In the opening performance of the Silo Theatre's New Works Festival, a renewed promise of excellence in New Zealand work has been decisively delivered to the doubting.
Toa Fraser's latest work, No. 2, for one actor, superbly directed by Catherine Boniface and undoubtedly starring Madeleine Sami, swept its audience to a standing ovation on a rising Pacific wave of dynamic talent.
Nanna Maria, aged matriarch of a large immigrant Fijian family in New Zealand, knows her life is drawing to a close and that she must choose her successor.
Ignoring her "bloody useless children" she instructs her grandchildren to cut the large tree in the back garden, kill a pig, cook, mix the grog and prepare a feast al fresco.
Through the course of the day-long preparations we are drawn into the distinctive realities and often humorous characters of the grandchildren, the English girlfriend, the priest, and of Nanna Maria herself.
Sami flicks seamlessly with great skill to and fro across the generations, genders and characters that give immense charm and living breath to this story of a family.
The writing, well-structured and genuinely witty, is contemporary in its employment of topical references and of the Pacific Islander and urban youth idioms.
It well captures and reflects this aspect of the New Zealand identity - these are characters that you will recognise.
The work plays to our broad sense of humour while touching lightly on the pathos of a dying woman in the moment chosen to pass on her traditional leadership to a new, very different generation.
The performance space and overall visual design is appropriately clear of all distractions with just a few simple lighting changes effectively suggesting locations within the house at No. 2 or elsewhere.
This production clearly represents a highly successful collaboration - a gifted New Zealand writer, an immensely talented performer unafraid of sharing herself with her audience, a skilled young director, and a bold theatre management with a strong vision for New Zealand work.
Theatre: No. 2 renews promise of excellence
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