Playwright Aroha Awarau has created a sensitive and engaging drama out of something that is almost unimaginably tragic – the random death of a young man cut down in his prime as an innocent bystander at a police shooting.

Although inspired by a heavily publicised incident, the play moves beyond the particularities of the event and takes us inside the mind of a mother as she searches for healing. [More]

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Playwright and producer Aroha Awarau’s new work is a tightly written exploration of grief and redemption, with plenty of humour and human insight.  

The narrative is, for want of a better word, inspired by the similar controversial events as Noa Campbell’s Crossfire two years ago: Innocent bystanders being shot by police crossfire in the pursuit of wrongdoers; the sort of tragedy referred to as an ‘unfortunate accident’ to the victims’ grieving families, and ‘collateral damage’ officially. 

At one end of the traverse stage a simple wooden table and two chairs are framed by a horizontal bamboo window shade, and at the other end a woman sleeps by some flowers before a hanging cane curtain.  It’s soon clear that this is the gravestone of her beloved youngest son Matthew, shot eighteen months earlier by an Armed Offenders Squad gunman. 

Niuean florist, wife and mother of seven (now six), Tulia (Aruna Po-Ching) is the quintessential loving-but-stern Pacifica mum, whose dedication to her son’s memory has her repeatedly writing to the man who killed her son, to request a meeting – which is in turn repeatedly declined.  When hoody-clad palagi teenager Jordan (Taylor Barrett) intrudes presumptuously into her world she is at first defensive and blunt, offended by his forward manner.

In the second scene, at home, Tulia’s husband Max (Joe Folau) expresses his grave concern for her welfare, having become introverted with obsession, drinking, neglecting the children and church, not finding her peace and moving on.  Her stony-faced lack of response indicates that she’ll never be able to until she gets the meeting she wants, for closure. 

The next several scenes alternate between home and the cemetery, where she continues to encounter the irascibly charming nuisance that is Jordan, whom she begins to warm to as he tells of his own troubled home life since his own mother died.  Then, just as her frozen heart seems to show definite signs of thawing, after accompanying him to a court hearing for petty theft, a chance meeting at the supermarket turns everything upside down. 

The climactic scene and ultimate reveal of the reality behind the events we’ve observed bring a certain closure to our own experience of these people’s world and journey.  I confess I sussed the crucial twist fairly early on, but it does not detract from my appreciation the penetrating dialogue and the solid, honest performances of the cast, including – and especially – Jatinder Singh’s sensitively frank turn as the eponymous officer.

Simply allowing the natural poignancy of the story and its characters to resonate, Janelle Bish’s adroit direction is upfront, unapologetic and unpretentious.  Similarly, Jane Hakaraia’s lighting design provides perceptive ambience, altogether resulting in a modestly intense, quietly powerful play. 

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