Dominic Ona-Ariki, of Up Close Out Loud. Picture / Kellie Blizard
Massive company has drawn together an impressive array of talent for a devised work that will travel to an international youth theatre festival in Manchester later this month.
The tightly choreographed show features fabulous dance routines, song, kapa haka and a crowd-pleasing karaoke sequence. Individual cast members address the audience
in quieter moments with diary-style monologues on teenage experiences.
The all-male cast seems most at home with the frantic dance sequences that convincingly evoke the mysterious rituals of teenage tribalism.
Misiarona Puni established an engaging presence with a solo performance in which he seemed unable to stop himself from dancing. Jack Haldane-Willis delivered an impressive slow motion rap while Tainui Tukiwaho showed strong vocal range and great confidence when speaking.
All cast members shared experiences and memories but the montage structure allows little opportunity to explore the tantalising array of ideas glimpsed in these monologues.
The show opens with forthright statements about identity. Tukiwaho articulates his frustration at being expected to share his Maori culture. Kitan Petkovski despairs at getting people to pronounce his name, let alone acknowledge his Macedonian heritage. Ashley Jones wonders about how to give voice to the in-between culture of a Kiwi kid from Howick.
Unfortunately these sentiments are left hanging as the show moves into a fragmentary montage that touches fleetingly on all the familiar youth issues - relationships, booze, violence and substance abuse.
The show concludes with quotations from Katherine Mansfield journals about the importance of taking risks and facing the truth. (Risk! Risk anything! Care no more for the opinion of others, for those voices. Do the hardest thing on earth for you. Act for yourself. Face the truth. (The Journal of Katherine Mansfield (1927) October 14, 1922).) These earnest homilies seem somewhat forced for a group of teenage boys who identify with hip-hop culture.
Moments like these made the show feel heavily director driven - an impression reinforced by the programme notes which devote three pages to director Sam Scott but offer no information about the cast other than listing names.
Still, the work is a sparkling showcase for a talented group of young actors.
The polished ensemble work provides evidence of the rigorous discipline and commitment that have gone into the creation of the show. The cast will do the country proud when it takes the show to the Contacting the World festival.
