Strange Resting Placesby Finn Teppett Wellington CollegeTaki Rua’s Strange Resting Places follows a series of stories from the Second World War, based around an encounter between two soldiers of the Maori Battalion and a very recently ex-Italian soldier in the Italian town of Cassino. Written by Paolo Rotondo and Rob Mokaraka, who draw inspiration from their respective cultural backgrounds, the play takes the audience through a series of humorous and moving stories from the war, and switches seamlessly between stories with the actors undergoing a string of comical and clever on-stage character changes. Rotondo, as an Axis army deserter, adds more than a touch of authenticity to the production as he waves his arms wildly and streams Italian throughout the performance and the two Maori Battalion soldiers, played faithfully by Mokaraka and Maaka Pohatu, are very funny with their portrayals of life during wartime for a soldier. The audience, who are welcomed in by Rotondo with pastries and freshly brewed coffee amid the sounds of the guitars and voices of the Maori songs from the war sung by Mokaraka and Pohatu, are also farewelled with bread and oil made onstage, all of which help emphasise the human part of the war over the warfare itself. This play doesn’t focus on any attempted justification of war, but it is so successful in the acknowledgement and celebration of the relationships that are formed and developed through the terrible times that war entails, which makes for a very good production. Finn Teppett Strange Resting Placesby William Tait JamiesonA Taste of Takirua Strange Resting Places Leo Gene Peters Downstage Upon seating myself down, one of the first things that struck me was the refreshing informality of the scene before me. The two Maori boys (Rob Mokaraka & Maaka Pohatu) were jamming away on their guitars on center stage half singing, half humming to traditional maori lyrics. The Italian, (Paolo Rotondo) was entertaining the crowd, already in character, a tray of coffee in hand ‘without’ milk because, “milk eet eez hard to geit halwd off in war tyme”. Strange Resting Places is not musical in the traditional sense. It is telling us the stories of the maori battalion boys through key elements shared by both cultures; food, family, and most importantly, music. A great performance and highly enjoyable to follow. The same recurring faces of the limited cast had little to no effect in limiting the many characters unique authenticity, once a hat was placed on a head or a gun shouldered, the character underwent an immediate and convincing change. To see such a diverse array of characters played by these three cultural musketeers was a spectacle in itself. Concerning production techniques, it is always a pleasure to see the initiative employed in finding a 1000 uses for one prop. The most distinctive of these would have to be the clever shouldering of the guitar, an essential in any Maori arsenal. The situated array of wooden chests around the stage seemed to make sense in every scene, from a Maori Battalion camp to an Italian abode, from an old barn to a Monastery. Oh the whole, Strange Resting Places was thoroughly pleasing to watch, listen and laugh to. However, the laughs are not without a motivation. The comedy opens you up to the tender moments. I came away feeling moved, having been shown war from a different perspective, to see so much humanity in the middle of supposed chaos was something truly special for me and everyone in the audience. |
