Nga Manurere| Mothers, secrets and lies

Nga Manurere follows Manawa’s (Nicola Kawana) journey to reconnect with the son Morehu (Pana Hema-Taylor) she gave up through whangai.
Supported by her closest friends Wai, Rina and Jess who are all single mothers, the women are tied together by roots and friendship, but each secretly harbours their own view on Manawa and the son to whom she is a stranger.

At once funny and shocking, the play explores the everyday experience of being a solo mum with honesty and humour. It also reveals a terrible truth that exposes the danger of emotional silence.

Keisha Castle-Hughes character is Wai, a young girl from the city who has never been on a marae and still pines for the absent father of her young son. Lana Garland plays Jess, an ambitious young family court lawyer who spends more time on her career than with her child. Newcomer Renae Maihi is Rina, a big-hearted
DPB career mum who has devoted her life to her son and relatives. Uncle Rongo (William Davis) is grandfather to them all.

Writer Maihi was discovered at the Matariki play conference last year. Directed by Katie Wolfe, the show weaves traditional Maori performance
forms such as poi, waiata, haka and moteatea through the fabric of a contemporary urban story. It will be staged in theatre and marae spaces.

This is current New Zealand theatre at its purest, stripped to bare essentials of story and actors, presented by an all star cast that have come together to give voice to our sole-flight mothers.

Read the review here:

http://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/review.php?id=2291

And hear Lynn Freeman's interview with Keisha Castle-Hughes here:

http://www.radionz.co.nz/__data/assets/audio_item/0012/1957980/art-20090524-1250-Nga_Manu_ere-m048.asx