Show Review: SURVIVE
A short review of Tuatara Collective's show SURVIVE, performed as part of the HAU Festival.
Featuring not one but three different performances, SURVIVE opened at the Basement Theatre on 24 June, and will be performed until 28 June. Craccum received the opportunity to watch and review SURVIVE's opening night, and extends our gratitude to Tuatara Collective and Jason Te Mete for the same.
Tackling identity, authenticity and navigating the trials and triumphs of a life within the diverse spectrum of the rainbow, the show was a response to how queer people in Aotearoa survive. They stumble, they struggle, they dance, they sing. Basement Theatre, as always, was warm and full of comfortable babble before the doors to the show opened (we shall ignore that I accidentally tried to go in a whole two minutes before they actually opened). The crowd was a mix across ages, but I'd certainly encourage more younger queer people to attend — it is the sort of show that offers perspective, confides in you and changes lives with the vulnerable and honest stories told. It will all be okay.
The show started with Vincent Farane in PRAY. Full of humour (only at the cost of the Destiny Church, don't worry), PRAY was fabulously energetic, and made me wish I knew more about dance than I do to fully appreciate Vincent's moves. I was hooked from the very beginning when Vincent came on stage, his movement-based art making me think of reaching for the warmth and light of something unknown and getting burnt by it. The missionary John Williams featuring right after that made me wonder if that's how pre-colonial Samoans felt, to reach towards a God that supposedly loved everything about them, and yet forbade things most natural to them. The show explores Vincent's relationship with religion through his discovery and acceptance of himself. To pray is the most personal thing possible, after all, and each of us defines faith for ourself.
Lady Nanu's LADY SINGS THE OOOH'S was mesmerizing from the second she stepped on stage. Those in the audience with me greeted her entrance with many OOOH's of their own, including shouts of YES DIVA. Her voice is rich and beautiful, and the way she told the juiciest of stories through song had me at the edge of my seat. She talked about the validity of trauma, her experience as a child and her troubles with unsolicited dick pics — all relatable and yet not heavy in their treatment because of her skillful wit and cutting humour. Lady Nanu was very engaged with the audience, getting one of them to bring a glass of wine back for her at one point (thanks Jessie!); her crowd work would make any audience fall in love. LADY SINGS THE OOOH'S puts Nanu's story and her hopes forward as she shares her life with us in a jazzy, flamboyant way, full of troubles and triumphs and amazing wigs. To learn of her efforts for the rainbow community and her care for both babies and old people was wonderful and memorable for me.
The end of the evening was with Adam Burrell's ESCAPING, in which he gives us "a 100% Adam" from the moment he steps on stage. Childhood car obsessions, adolescent love interests, and the discovery of himself through 'escape' are all brilliantly communicated through Adam's poetry and monologues. I loved the lip-synch performances woven into ESCAPING, and the very impressive drag where Adam introduced us to his alter-ego, Ms. Adena Delights. The show is, as Adam put it, his life and his experiences condensed into the 45-minutes we share with him. We see the good, the bad, the Covid-19 lockdown, and the tragic that comes with life. We pick ourselves up just like Adam did, and we discover ourselves by escaping to safer places; life is a series of revelations about accepting and loving who you are. On another note, I did get called out as being an environmentalist for not driving, so I suppose I have to accept and love that as well. Will let my future driving instructor(s) know.
SURVIVE will be showing until the 28th of June. Tickets are $30, while concession tickets are $20, and you only need one ticket for all of three of the performances. Go check it out this week!
