Twenty years on from Taki Rua’s premiere of the revised version of Sons,* Victor Rodger’s semi-autobiographical first play has lost none of its power. Indeed, from a palagi perspective, our greater awareness of Pasifika cultures arguably makes it a better theatrical experience now. Directed by Sasha Gibb, this young cast – soon to graduate from Te Auaha Institute of Creativity – do it proud.

The titular sons – Noah Macfarlane (Mani McIntyre) and Lua Ualesi (Luke Burke) – both in their early 20s, have never met, despite having the same father: Manu’a Ualesi (Dylan Vailima Fa’atui). Both their mothers – Grace Marshall, nee Macfarlane (Lucia Blas Tabeira), who became pregnant with Noah at age 15, and Sandra Ualesi (Elizabeth Harris) – are palagi, although Sandra has adopted the Samoan culture.

All live in the same large town but Grace and Noah have had no contact with Manu’a for the last ten years; Grace is now married and their lives are totally separate. But now Noah has learned his father is dying and wants to visit him. His Nan (Presley Jett Novak), Grace’s mother, cannot understand his need, given “what that man did” to his mother. On the other side of town Sandra is also implacably opposed – and it quickly becomes apparent her children by Manu’a have no idea that Noah exists. (Lua’s sister is overseas so it’s only the sons who are in danger of meeting.)

Meanwhile Noah has been in a relationship with an artist, Alex (Aja Thompson) for 158 days and car-salesman Lua has a fraught relationship with girlfriend Sas (Ngareta Samuel-Marshall), a jazz singer. As the action plays out, a ‘like father like sons’ syndrome begins to afflict these very well wrought relationships.

The simple black box staging, which places Manu’a on a mat-clad rostrum upstage centre, allows the multi-scened story to unfold seamlessly so we are constantly engaged by the slow-reveal of key dramatic elements. Gibb employs an intriguing convention whereby characters tend to face front when they are talking past each other so that their face-to-face moments have greater impact.

Each actor authentically inhabits their role, ensuring we empathise with their character even when their behaviour deteriorates. Fortunately those playing characters much older than themselves don’t resort to phoney tropes, but bring their fundamentally human thoughts and feelings into strong focus – as do all the actors.

Sublime singing, both solo and ensemble, punctuates the scenes and permeates the play to strongly enhance our sense of the era and the conflicting cultural imperatives.

This assured production ensures the full impact of Rodger’s insights into to humanity and his critique of hypocrisy come through as Sons builds to a powerful conclusion. It’s highly recommended – and bodes well for the second play in this Victor Roger Season next week: My Name is Gary Cooper. (Find Season Pass details on the production page.)
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*The original version of Sons, in which the central character was named Tama, was accepted into the 1994 Australasian Playwrights’ Workshop and subsequently premiered at The Court Theatre, Christchurch in 1995.

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