A friendship caught in a cultural collision

Dave Fane (top), Oscar Kightley and Damon Andrews have worked on previous projects together.Picture / Carolyn Robertson

Damon Andrews And Dave Fane make an incongruous pair. Andrews is a slight white guy, with a look of mild perturbation, while Fane is a robust Polynesian with a non-stop line in blarney.

This odd couple are the heart and soul of the Auckland Theatre Company's first offering for the year, Niu Sila.

The play, which made its debut in Wellington last year, has already made a splash. It won the 2004 Chapman Tripp Theatre Award for Outstanding New Zealand Play of the Year.

It has a good pedigree. It is written by man of many talents Oscar Kightley, co-creator of bro'Town, and writer of plays such as Dawn Raids and Fresh Off the Boat; and Dave Armstrong, creator of telly family The Semisis and the man who adapted A Christmas Carol for the Auckland Theatre Company last year.

The links between members of the Niu Sila team are manifold - Kightley, Fane and Armstrong worked together on the television comedy series SKITZ, while Fane and Kightley are fellow Naked Samoans who co-wrote A Frigate Bird Sings. Actors Fane and Andrews are the best of mates, whose friendship started when they were drama students in the early 90s.

So it is fitting that their play is about friends. Niu Sila (New Zealand in several Polynesian languages) is about a friendship spanning more than 40 years, two cultures and one neighbourhood.

The story is told from the perspective of Peter Burton (Andrews), a palagi 6-year-old who strikes up a friendship with fresh-off-the-boat Ioane Tafioka when they become neighbours in 1960s Ponsonby.

Together the little white guy and the big Polynesian bloke play more than 30 characters including parents, siblings, teachers, policemen, a minister, and the local Indian cricket team.

Fane insists Andrews has the tougher job, carrying the burden of narration as well as his clutch of characters.

"It is tiring," says Andrews, "but in a way it's easy because we know all these characters, we know real people like this. We didn't have to go and do a lot of research."

Kightley says Andrews and Fane admirably rise to the challenge of their multiple personalities.

"People in Wellington who saw it said they were amazed that they could watch a six foot four Polynesian guy with a beard on stage and see only a 15-year-old girl in front of them."

The play grew from an idea hatched by Dave Armstrong during the days of SKITZ. Armstrong had always wondered what happened to a childhood friend of his, a Niuean boy. He tossed the idea around with Kightley and Fane, and Niu Sila was born.

"Dave [Fane] and I have been involved in a lot of Pacific Island theatre, which is quite political by nature," says Kightley. "Plays like Fresh Off the Boat, Dawn Raids and A Frigate Bird Sings are about the immigrant experience from a Pacific Island perspective.

"Niu Sila sees it through white eyes, from Peter's perspective. It's more a play about the bicultural experience of immigration. It shows that Pacific migration has affected New Zealanders in more ways than just the cliches of sport and music.

"It's easier to be friends with someone when you are a kid - how good you are at backyard cricket or whether you get picked for the bullrush team is more important than where you come from."

But kids grow up and cultures collide.

It is the script's poignancy and thought-provoking portrait of a friendship caught in a cultural firing line that has Kightley bemused by the play being pitched to the public as a uproarious comedy.

"We are known as comedy writers but I am loath to call it a comedy. We didn't sit down to write a gag-a-minute laugh-fest. I don't want people to come along expecting to see an episode of bro'Town, or The Naked Samoans.

"Parts of it are funny - the best comedy is always about the stuff that really matters in life. But we said to each other, let's write a story about these two boys who meet up again years later. And first and foremost it is that story."

Niu Sila has been "Auckland-ified", in Andrews' words, in the shift from the capital. Porirua has become Mangere, Brooklyn is now Ponsonby.

The actors are excited about performing in the most populous Polynesian city on earth. Partially fuelling their excitement are the reactions they received while conducting a series of workshops in Auckland schools.

"Most of these schools were decile one schools in south Auckland," says Fane. "I was surprised and impressed that they all have drama departments now."

"And most of them had high numbers of Pacific Island students," adds Andrews. "These kids knew the characters instantly and could bring them to life."

Many schools are sending groups to matinees during the season. After each school performance, Fane and Andrews will hold a brief forum, discussing the play with the students once again.

"That's the cool thing about drama," says Kightley. "It transcends deciles."

Performance

* What: Niu Sila

* Where and when: Maidment, Mar 4-19