Digital Winds catches the audience attention with a bang.  It starts with a wonderful fire dance, slap dance and water ceremony in the outside centre court of Mangere Arts Centre being suddenly invaded by two street thugs chasing and attacking a guy for his shoes. We then follow the escaping crew into the theatre to witness the Aotearoa Battle Championships where two B-Boy teams dance up a storm of provocative break-dance gymnastics matching insults with sexual confrontation and bravado.  We get the picture: a dynamic youth story. This is going to be a night of South Auckland in all its myriad dimensions. 

What then occurs is a mix of short-scene mostly comedy, some wonderful singing, imaginative skilful dance, and a story which slips and slides from one character to another as we experience a kaleidoscope of young people dealing with a wide range of issues.  Even at the end I am wondering what is Digital Winds really all about!

The inspiration for Digital Winds, I understand, was a personal tragedy experienced by the writer in the not too distant past. This is the final play in Iaheto Ah Hi’s The Stingray Trilogy, Tautai and Plantation being the first two.  They are the story of Sipugi, a Samoan Policeman in South Auckland. 

In Digital Winds the main character is played by the charismatic Tom Tredrow-Natoealofa.  You may know him for the excellent host job he does every week on TVNZ’s Tagata Pasifika.  We see him in current scenes as a church group leader, in flashback scenes of his youth. One highlight for me is when he sings a family song with his pregnant partner to their unborn baby while playing the guitar. It’s a moment of joy and harmony.

However the focus is also on the life of a young girl Celeste (Jennifer Ah Hi Perez).  What a talent is here!  She can spin the world with song; she is petite, energetic and believable. She is a lovely young girl meeting the pressures and expectations of her world. It is a pity the story doesn’t focus more clearly on her journey from the couch with warm and affectionate siblings to deep despair in the isolation chamber of her mind.

Digital Winds is a great ensemble show.  Every member is unique, disciplined and creative in the big group numbers singing and dancing (what I call break dancing).  There are many excellent cameos from the crew of 17 young performers.  Even Cory James Key, the tiny kid with attitude, pulls a great focus and story line. 

The sensitive heart of the production is Aisea Latu who secretly loves Celeste and is a wild and creative dancer.  However this story is only alluded to and never really moves to a dramatic climax which was crying out to be told. 

The gang of posing strutting girls with “aaaaattttituuuude” are the La Vanz Girlz, a ‘would be’ gang.  The three girls – Petalz (Paris Fifita), Muscles (Jessica Tuivaiti) and Pix (Vitoria Schmidt) – are a team of PI Marx Brothers. Funny, interactive and with clearly defined personalities, they bring great energy to the show.

Being a 21^st century production, it’s got to have lots of technology.  There are video games, cell phones, video clips and a very strange character called Isumus (Andrew Norman), who is a computer hacker.  Isumus is a splendid creation by this powerful actor and could have added major impact to the plot. However the opportunity never eventuates. What he is doing in the play quite escapes me as he has little to do with the story of Celeste and only slightly with that of Sipugi.

Of course a South Auckland story has to have its stoners.  Baked (Maxwell Siulangapo) and Hashed (Billy Revell) are a comedy duo full of outrageous antics such as the light sabre duel with window washing brushes.  They also have a most unlikely discussion on the String Theory and here perhaps they hit of the nub of the production: each string vibrates with its own frequency and finds its own gravity and mass; sink or swim, live with anger or love – your choice!

There is nothing like live music in a show.  Digital Winds has a wonderful band from Martin Hautus Institute under the excellent musical direction of Tamausa Faalepo Vaotuua, with original songs and some great Bob Marley numbers with guest performers and some very strong actors who can also sing and play the guitar! 

Digital Winds has too much of a good thing.  For me it needs some editing and focus in its story telling.  Perhaps the script will benefit from a new version in the future. The variety of situations and characters overwhelms the drama and doesn’t give us insights into the complexity and unfathomable depth of youth depression and perhaps suicide.  There is a story inside the production but too may strings just made a bit of a tangle.

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