REVIEW: Birds (The Mangere Arts Centre)
Real, Raw and Revealing [by Sharu Delilkan]
Ali Foa'i in Dianna Fuemana's new work Birds.
It was like dejavu arriving at The Mangere Arts Centre, from Avondale, only to be thrust back into the thick of my own neighbourhood.
Set in Avondale, Birds incorporates the suburb’s iconic sites -- Avondale Community Centre, Hollywood Cinema, Rosebank Road and Riversdale Reserve. These brilliantly selected audio-visuals, laced with witticism and whimsy, help create an effective fourth dimension.
Brave, insightful, poignant, real, raw and revealing are adjectives that come to mind when describing the new work Birds.
And as the playwright and director Dianna Fuemana says it was clearly her “ode to teenage-hood and their mums”.
I’ve seen a number of Samoan plays at The Mangere Arts Centre recently so it was refreshing to get a Niuean perspective. The fast-paced urban story distinguishes itself as it’s told through the eyes of a young Niuean boy, coming of age.