Jonathan Riley plays the volatile teenage son of separating parents in <i>His Mother's Son</i>. Photo / The Aucklander
Jonathan Riley plays the volatile teenage son of separating parents in <i>His Mother's Son</i>. Photo / The Aucklander
KEY POINTS:
The boldly experimental structure of His Mother's Son discards linear narrative in favour of a swirling kaleidoscope of brightly colored fragments.
Playwright Leilani Unasa shows considerable confidence and skill with a freewheeling approach to storytelling that dissolves the boundaries between past, present and future.
The effect is highlyengaging as the audience is drawn into the task of putting together the pieces that will reveal the interwoven stories of four members of a cross-cultural family.
The process is made more intriguing as we are often presented with contradictory versions of the same event and it is not always clear if the characters are alive or dead.
The slowly emerging storyline charts the disintegration of the marriage of a hard-drinking Samoan immigrant and his Kiwi wife and shows how the break-up affects their teenage son.
The play is centred on a hospital bed where the Samoan husband encounters an enigmatic nurse who guides him into understanding that all the unresolved problems of his life will be carried with him into death.
There are moments of gritty naturalism but the overall tone of the play is distinctly surreal and this is largely because of the inscrutable character of the nurse.
Dianna Fuemana brings a sphinx-like sense of mystery to this role. Her tranquil, softly spoken voice and deadpan humour create a bizarre, ethereal presence that is full of understated power.
Aleni Tufuga, in the role of the dying patient, also has a strong stage presence and he is animated and charming as he enacts the seduction of his palagi wife to a disco soundtrack. However, his character has been written as a fairly one-dimensional type, and Katrina Chandra's direction seems to encourage shouting whenever intense emotion is required.
This is a pity, as the play's most powerful moments are delivered in quiet, restrained tones.
The palagi wife is a more complex character, and Helen Jones' performance effectively captures her emotional journey as the marriage collapses and she is left with the sole care of their son. The inarticulate angst and explosive mood-swings of the teenage son are convincingly portrayed by Jonathon Riley.
The downside of the play's fragmentary structure is that it limits the opportunities for character development, but Leilani Unasa's writing has an appealing, poetic quality that is revealed in unexpected places, such as the moment when her spirit-guide glances down at the hospital car park and announces that she likes the Toyotas.
