DAWN RAIDS

ASB Waterfront Theatre, 138 Halsey St, Wynyard Quarter, Auckland

18/08/2022 - 03/09/2022

Opera House, Wellington

23/10/2024 - 24/10/2024

Production Details


By Oscar Kightley
directed by Troy Tu’ua and Tanya Muagututi’a
Musical Director: Posenai Mavaega

A co-production between Auckland Theatre Company and Pacific Underground


Legendary Pasifika theatre collective Pacific Underground revisits Dawn Raids 25 years on, in the wake of the Apology.

Central Auckland. 1973. Fuarosa sleeps with one eye on the front door, in fear of it bursting open. Sione struggles to keep the peace by day and croons Elvis love songs by night. Teresa turns to activism to channel her rage but only her mate Bene hears her. Steve is a policeman, turning his own people out of their homes – even though it turns his stomach. Mose supports the raids and scorns overstayers.

Join Sione and his band, the Noble Hawai’ian Sabretooth Tigers, as they welcome you to the Paradise Honeypot Club where everything is beautiful, until it isn’t.

Oscar Kightley’s contemporary classic contrasts white-hot anger at the injustice visited upon Pacific People with wit and warmth, and Elvis – lots of Elvis. An unmissable new production of Dawn Raids, given fresh potency by the Apology.

“A searing and raw look at a community under siege from its own government from a shameful time in Aotearoa’s history, only now being atoned for.” – Jonathan Bielski

ASB Waterfront Theatre
18 August – 3 September 2022
Previews: 16 & 17 September
More details and bookings

Contains strong language

2024 tour to Wellington

Celebrating its 30th year, legendary Aotearoa Pasifika theatre collective Pacific Underground will bring its widely-acclaimed production of Dawn Raids, co-developed with Auckland Theatre Company in 2022, to the Wellington Opera House stage this October.

“For anyone…wondering what the Dawn Raids were or why an apology was needed, this play should be essential viewing for all.” NZ Herald 2022

Opera House, Wellington
Weds 23 October, 7.30pm
Thursday 24 October, 11am & 7.30pm
Tickets from $30 – $80 from TicketMaster
School matinee prices available direct from Pacific Underground
https://www.ticketmaster.co.nz/dawn-raids-tickets/artist/3212483

The play, by Arts Foundation Laureate, actor, writer, theatre and film director and comedian Oscar Kightley MNZM revisits a shameful period in the 1970’s when the New Zealand government cracked down on overstayers in Aotearoa, ripping Pasifika families from their beds in a series of targeted early morning police raids.

In the wake of the 2021 apology from the New Zealand government, an ifoga – a Samoan ceremonial apology –  was made, resulting in the Dawn Raids Funding Initiative, supported by Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage and NZ On Air. The initiative is designed to support projects that share this important event in New Zealand history and the lived experiences of the Dawn Raids, from the perspective of Pasifika creative communities.

“Seeing this story come to life feels like a promise. A promise to our future. That in light of the Government’s apology…we remember that we can forgive, but these stories should never be forgotten.” The Pantograph Punch 2022

Kightley says, “This Dawn Raids season in Wellington is more than 25 years in the making. It had a season in Auckland and Christchurch at the end of the last century, and came to Auckland in 2022, but it’s never been to Wellington. I am beyond excited. Especially since it was a Samoan family in Welli and their lawyers who took the case all the way to the Privy Council in the early 1980s, which finally ended that racist nonsense from the NZ government. I can’t wait for the awesome theatre goers of Wellington to get a chance to see this.”

Dawn Raids producer of Pacific Underground, Tanya Muagututi’a MNZM says, “Oscar’s trademark humour balances out the conflict within this family story, in a cathartic and uplifting way. It was one of our country’s darkest moments, so this revival offers a place for talanoa and healing. We are proud to present this remarkable production again, with the same epic Pasifika cast and artists who thrilled Auckland in 2022.

“It was disturbing to hear in the media last year that the practice of ‘out of hours compliance visits’ had still been happening after the apology, so we hope that politicians and policy-makers in the capital will get along and see this play, as well as our awesome Wellington āiga.”

“Beautifully executed, funny, poignant, historically epic theatre.” – Theatreview 2022

2022 Creative New Zealand Pasifika Arts award winner, Dawn Raids Director Troy Tu’ua hails from a rich history of creating, directing and performing exceptional Pasifika work.  Co-founder and Artistic Director of much-admired Sau E Siva Creatives, a South Auckland dance theatre company, he has directed many productions at Ngā Tohu o Uenuku / Māngere Arts Centre, notably the acclaimed and joyous musicals The Wizard of Otahuhu and Alatini, which both had sell-out season’s at Tāmaki Makaurau’s Q Theatre.

The live, on-stage band – led by esteemed musician and Pacific Underground co-founder, Pos Mavaega MNZM, features prominently throughout the show, performing of-the-era soul, funk and island favourites.

Audiences will be transported to the Paradise Honeypot Club in the 70’s, where lead character Sione, played by Michael Falesiu (Red, White & Brass, Sione’s Wedding, Hearts of Men) transforms into smooth crooner by night, with his fa’ili the ‘Noble Hawai’ian Sabretooth Tigers’.

Falesiu is joined by a stellar cast of talent, including Bella Kalolo-Suraj (Shortland Street, Matariki, Sione’s Wedding), Talia-Rae Mavaega (Odd Daphne, Fresh off the Boat, Polly Hood in Mumuland), Jake Tupu Aiga, Whā, Fresh off the Boat), Italia Hunt (Mean Mums, Standing Up for Sunny, Baby Mama’s Club) and Lauie Sila (Jonah, Macbeth Filthy Rich).

The experienced creative team includes Set and Costume Designers Tony De Goldi (A Streetcar Named Desire, Fresh off the Boat, Hohepa), Mark McEntyre (Flagons and Foxtrots, Transmissions, Les Liaisons Dangereuses) and award-winning Lighting Designer Jo Kilgour (Night Light, The Haka Party Incident, The Life of Galileo).

Infused with Pasifika humour and heart, this large-scale, unmissable piece of Aotearoa New Zealand theatre enlightens and educates. In its 30th year,  the country’s longest running Pacific performing arts organisation, Pacific Underground, brings a rich and profound understanding of the past to the Wellington Opera House stage for three performances only.

“Dawn Raids rips away the headlines to reach the heart of a national outrage. A history lesson in the best way… See Dawn Raids.”The Spinoff 2022 


CAST includes:
Sione (Fabian): Michael Falesiu
Teresa: Talia-Rae Mavaega
Bene: Jake Tupu
Steve: Italia Hunt
Mose: Lauie Sila
To'aga: Bella Kalolo-Suraj
Fuarosa: Gabrielle Solomona (2022); Sina Esera (2024)

CREATIVES:
Written by: Oscar Kightley
Producer, Pacific Underground: Tanya Muagututi'a, Pos Mavaega, Oscar Kightley
Director: Troy Tu'ua
Assistant Directors: Jake Tupu, Tanya Muagututi’a
Musical Director: Pos Mavaega
Set & Costume Designers: Tony De Goldi and Mark McEntyre
Lighting Designer: Jo Kilgour
Sound Designers: Pos Mavaega, Lijah Mavaega

BAND includes:
Pos Mavaega
Lijah Mavaega
Tanya Muagututi’a
Josephine Mavaega

By arrangement with Playmarket


Musical , Theatre , Pasifika Theatre ,


The impact of the Dawn Raids, laid bare through lives of one Pasifika family

Review by Max Rashbrooke 25th Oct 2024

Dawn Raids, a revival of Oscar Kightley’s 1997 play, depicts one of the darkest moments in recent New Zealand history, when police – using the flimsy pretence of searching for overstayers – spent much of the period 1974-76 harassing Pacific Island migrants and assaulting them in their homes.

This production, mounted jointly by Pacific Underground and the Auckland Theatre Company, explores the raids’ fear- and shame-inducing effects through the lives of one Pasifika family. [More]

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A classic that needs to be seen by every generation of New Zealanders

Review by John Smythe 24th Oct 2024

We think we’ve come to a hard-hitting political play about the infamous Dawn Raids. After years of bringing Pacific islanders in on short-term visas to build our industries in an economic growth-phase, the inevitable recession saw Norman Kirk’s Labour-government initiate the deportation of overstayers in 1974. National Party leader Robert Muldoon campaigned heavily on the issue, won the election in November 1975 and doubled down on the Dawn Raids. Some of us remember and new generations need to know.

But Wellington’s Opera House stage is adorned with a show-band set-up – ‘The Noble Hawai’ian Sabretooth Tigers’ (Musical Director, Pos Mavaega) – and a smooth American called Fabian welcomes us to the Paradise Honeypot Club by getting us all to echo his “Aloha!” greeting. He misquotes Shakespeare, tells us, “As well as my Hawai’ian blood, I also have French and Italian,” and tops it off Elvis-style by singing ‘Hound Dog’.

It’s a set-up, all right, that pays off brilliantly at the end of Oscar Kightley’s ingeniously crafted play. Set in Central Auckland – Ponsonby before it became gentrified? – the play premiered at Auckland’s Herald Theatre in 1997, produced by Pacific Underground who took it to Christchurch’s Court Theatre the following year. Two years ago, in the wake of the Labour government’s 2021 formal apology for the raids – including an ifoga ceremony – the Auckland Theatre Company partnered with Pacific Underground to revive Dawn Raids at the ASB Waterfront Theatre to mark the 25th anniversary of its premiere and Pacific Underground’s 30th year.

And now they have brought it to Wellington – to a packed and eager audience. This is not a ‘museum piece’. We are only too aware the political blame game, stirring up prejudice against immigrants, is still being played out all over the world. Indeed, bizarrely, similar buttons are being pressed right here right now in an attempt to disenfranchise Aotearoa New Zealand’s tangata whenua!  

So here we are, happily echoing “Aloha!” end enjoying ‘Fabian’s pseudo big-star patter. Cut to a simple domestic set where a Samoan woman, To’aga, is ticking off a young woman, Fuarosa, for going outside while Mose (To’aga’s husband) slumps in an armchair studying Best Bets. He only pipes up when Fuarosa says she’s tired of staying inside: “All I do is clean the house until everybody gets home.”
   Mose’s, “What’s wrong with that?” gets a laugh – at his ‘dark ages’ attitude. So far so amusing …

It emerges Fuarosa – Losa for short – is engaged to Sione, the son of the house, who works in a factory by day and metamorphoses into ‘Fabian’ at the Paradise Honeypot Club by night, leaving Losa stranded. It was To’aga who talked Mose into letting her stay on after her visa expired – and now they are hiding an overstayer, which troubles him more than anyone else; he believes in obeying the law. It’s clear Sione and Losa are deeply in love, and of course he justifies never being home by saying he’s doing it all for them, so he’ll become famous enough to buy them a big house and station-wagon for all the family.

Michael Falesiu is as sincere as Sione as he is charismatically fake as Fabian, epitomising the cultural cringe-cum-identity crisis that has become the lot of Samoan immigrants. Sina Esera compels our empathy as Fuarosa, the stranded ‘innocent abroad’ who survives on a diet of daytime television, loves the look of the lollies at the dairy and yearns to eat like a palagi.

As the peace-maker and home-maker, Bella Kalolo-Suraj’s To’aga proves a strong anchor as the tides of change and looming threats challenge the equilibrium of their home. Lauie Sila’s Mose doesn’t help by being resistant to change and calling on the imperatives of Fa’a Samoa by way of demanding strict obedience from his kids while escaping to the pub and playing the role of a ‘good Kiwi bloke’.

Their university student daughter Teresa, subtly played by Talia-Rae Mavaega, has become politicised by joining the Brown Panthers – influenced by international activist movements. She offers the strongest challenge to Mose’s conservatism while remaining firmly bound to the family. Her mate Bene, played by Jake Tupu, comes across as a bit of a flake until we realise he’s enabling his Aunty’s questionable boarding house operation.

Everyone is a bit flawed and trying to navigate social change while wrestling at some level with moral dilemmas – not least Steve, Mose’s friend from way-back who has become an Auckland policemen. First encountered ‘undercover’ at the Paradise Honeypot Club, Italia Hunt brings a steady, undemonstrative presence to Steve in contrast to his drunk sole (bro), Mose. As the proverbial meat in the sandwich, we cannot help but feel for him.

As the reality of the police operations begin to close in on the family group we have come to know and love, we are treated to such gems as Theresa and Bene’s attempt to give a Labour Department official a taste of his own medicine, and a Samoan song sung by Fuarosa. And of course there are countless impeccably orchestrated ‘gags’ that speak volumes – e.g. “Which island are you from?” “The North Island.”

What we have come to know as Oscar Kightley’s trademark skill, in using gentle comedy to bring us face-to-face with serious issues, pays off powerfully under the direction of Troy Tu’ua. Rather than heightening the characterisations and comedy tropes for easy laughs, they trust us to engage empathetically and embrace the heart of the matter. Thus outbursts of audience laughter are balanced by thoughtful, focused silences as the truth of it all sinks in.

The design team of Tony De Goldi and Mark McEntyre (set & costumes), Jo Kilgour (lighting) and Pos Mavaega and Lijah Mavaega (sound) enhance the story as it evolves through seamless scene changes – abetted by an ensemble of extras who people the Honeypot Club and Gluepot Pub before becoming police raiders or their victims.

The impactful dramatic climax is followed by scenes that give us time and space to absorb the human truth of what has happened. Then we’re back at the club for the salutary pay-off to that opening scene set-up. It is the importance and value of owning one’s own cultural identity that is the binding theme.

Dawn Raids is a classic that needs to be seen by every generation of New Zealanders – not least to ensure that such atrocities never happen again.

[Photos by Andi Crown Photography]

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Kau Sandys October 24th, 2024

Honestly, the whole production team were awesome and amazing! They depicted everything my late father shared in terms of how he retold the dawnraid experiences, his own experience as well as other pacific islanders experiences he knew of. The humor was definitely there but so were the traumatizing scenes of being chased by the police, neverending sirens, and the dog barking in pitch blackness. I sat in a row of mainly palagis and we were all bawling 😭 my husband too, he never cries lol Thank you for bringing our Pacifica experiences of the dawnraid era onto the theater stage, awareness brings positive changes. 💛💚💙🩵💜🤎🖤🩶🧡

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Insightful visual and aural feast laid out by brave, vulnerable, bold, empowered young actors

Review by Fiona Collins 20th Aug 2022

There is no excuse for not going to see this beautifully executed, funny, poignant, historically epic theatre work – brought to the ASB Waterfront Theatre by Pacific Underground and Auckland Theatre Company with the help funders CNZ, Auckland Council, and Playmarket NZ.

Back in 1997 Oscar Kightley wrote Dawn Raids which he and his Pacific Underground aiga (family) staged at the Herald Theatre. Set in the 1970s, the play is a hard-hitting work based on real people and real situations in an acute time of discrimination and unprovoked violent intrusions into the Ponsonby and Grey Lynn homes of many Samoan and Pacific people.

25 years later, Dawn Raids is revamped, revitalised and re-made to the absolute delight of last night’s opening night audience – where it takes the stage and breathes “PASIFIKA” into every corner of the building.

Kightley’s clever and wittily written words bounce off the walls of the theatre inciting raucous laughter one moment and heartrending tears from the audience as we are taken on a journey back to the reality of our parents/grandparent’s lives, back to the pain, back to the hardship, back to the reason why I am able to be sitting in a flash theatre in downtown Aukilagi, Niu Sila in 2022.

Brilliantly co-directed by the magnificent Tanya Muagututi’a (PU founding member), and fabulous Troy Tu’ua, the play nestles into the whole stage like it was written for this space. The insightful moments of what is seen and unseen; how the audience is gently but firmly held throughout the more disturbing reality of what happened in those early morning hours; the bold presentation of what has become intergenerational trauma that has inherently impacted on many Pasifika lives… This play NEEDS to travel.

Among many many things, Dawn Raids is aural FEAST for the senses. Musical Director, the legendary Posenai Mavaega, outdoes himself yet again with the perfect marriage between live music and text-based storytelling. It is such a heart treat to hear a Samoan fa’ili (band) on stage. They are phenomenal!

To hear Samoan party songs and hymns in an unfamiliar and mostly unlikely yet welcoming space, and know that a new generation is stepping through and bringing our Pasifika stories further into view … Malo lava Pos, King of the igi and champion of keeping Pasifika music alive for all the generations to come – faafetai tele lava.

The set design is next level! The G.O.M Arts Collective (Tony de Goldi and Mark McEntyre) have totally outdone themselves. They have brilliantly transformd the stage into the spaces needed for the storytelling with an ease and slickness that celebrates their experience and creativity. Also having designed the costumes (satisfyingly and suitably 70s!) and props (minimal and essential), this amazing team gives the directors and actors a wonderful playing space to play in. Two outstanding moments: the screens (ahhh the wonderful constant and varied use of the screens!), and the van (wow!).

It is not surprising that master Lighting Designer Jo Kilgour once again woos the audience and beautifully complements the play with her sublime and resourceful use of light. From torches to pinpoints to warm Pacific colours that flavour the scenes with a stealthy and unobtrusive presence – again, what is seen and unseen.

To be noted, acknowledged and celebrated is the history that all these Theatre masters and storytellers share. And that they have come together to ‘hand over’ to our next generation of Pasifika storytellers. So very special and definitely an historic moment in New Zealand theatre.

The cast – the brave, vulnerable, bold, empowered young actors who sing the songs, speak the words, cry the tears, and carry the pain of the generations before.

Bella Kalolo (To’aga) and Lauie Tofa (Mose) are exquisite. They are both exceptional in their outstanding portrayal of the stereotypical ‘fob’ Samoan parents, and it is heart-wrenching and real, with integrity and intelligence and pride. I weep, as do many others, at the reminder of what our parents went through, how they brought us up, and what their expectations were of/for us as they sacrifice everything for a better life for their children.

Kalolo shows a wealth of experience and stage craft with her sardonic Shakespearean asides and stillness, which nicely play against Tofa’s superb comedic timing, burly embodiment of his character and huge stage presence. Such great casting!

And this can be said for the whole cast.

Michael Falesiu (Sione) – eldest son of To’aga and Mose, factory worker by day and singer by night – opens the show as his performance alter ego ‘Fabian’, who dreams of stardom and wealth and escape from their humble Grey Lynn home.  Breaking the fourth wall (a norm in Pasifika storytelling), he welcomes the audience, as punters, to the Paradise Honeypot Club. He charms the audience with his Elvis-influenced dance moves and dulcet tones.

Falesiu’s depth as an actor truly comes in to play as Sione’s journey becomes steeped in reality and responsibility, and loss. He is a joy to watch and the perfect ‘Puck’ in this work.

Gabrielle Solomona is beautifully vulnerable yet fearless in her role as Fuarosa, the young Samoan fugitive who has stayed in New Zealand for love and the better life.

Talia-Rae Mavaega (Theresa) is outrageously improper and suitably outraged with the system and her life in general as a young NZ-born Samoan woman who has been brought up with education and choice. She leads, she rebels, she speaks up and against… and then ironically is her Father’s comfort in time of crisis. Talia-Rae plays this role with strength and aplomb.

Jake Tupu (Bene and Assistant Director) character Bene brings a softness and complexity to the story. He is burdened with a familial situation and is very ‘Samoan’.  Tupu’s skilful navigation of Bene’s journey is wonderfully done with charm and passion and vulnerability. A brave performance.

Italia Hunt humbly commands the stage as Steve, the Samoan policeman who is painfully conflicted and torn between his people, and ‘doing his job’. His scene with his Father back home in Samoa is heart-wrenchingly beautiful and Hunt plays this role with courage, depth and humanity.

The ensemble supports the space with calm, speed and slick scene changes which run like a well-choreographed dance as our eye is taken to other areas of the stage with lighting and sound cues. Well done to Stage Manager Petmal Petelo Lam and crew!

To the actors who play the Cops – malo lava, what an undertaking, what a responsibility, and even though it is ‘acting’, the impact of playing these roles will have been huge, so well done to you all.

The actual dawn raid scene is so raw, so heart-breaking – there’s not a dry eye in the house. And if it goes on a moment too long, is too uncomfortable, too painful for some people, then this brilliant cast and crew have done their job.

CONGRATULATIONS to all!

ABSOLUTE HIGHLIGHT: An audience member officially closing the show and formalities with a traditional Samoan end-of- function song.

This work MUST travel – all over Niu Sila, the world, but most importantly, Samoa 🤎🌺

Malo, malo lava.
Faafetai faafetai fa’afetai tele,
Ia outou manuia.
Soifua.

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