REVIEW: Royals of Kihikihi

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What an absolutely stunning show.  I had to ask twice to check I’d heard right that this is the first staged production for Samuel Christopher, who also played a raw, real, but vulnerable, Wolf Royal, home from London for his mother’s funeral.  It was a punchy, in-your-face, look through the windows into the family living room.  Inside one hour we found out more detail than seems possible about the Royal family.  The content was topical, and relevant and steamingly honest, and I’m telling you no more than that because I don’t want to take anything from the unwrapping of layers that happens on stage.

It is a clever play, not ‘clever’ but very skillful with the age-range of the siblings allowing a perfectly natural reveal of family information, as did the arrival of the late Maggie Royal’s friend, convincingly played by Sylvia Rand.  The older-younger sister dynamic captured by Holly Shervey and Luci Hare in their roles as the Royal sisters was both humorous and horrendous, and alarmingly real. It is compact too, no wasted words or moments, yet again this is accomplished without being at all contrived.

It’s somewhat difficult to comment so positively about the presentation of content that maybe we would rather not be reminded of or confronted with.  The Royals of Kihikihi could have been from any town or suburb in New Zealand, which was part of the discomfort.  The story was the ‘normal’ of their lives, which was terribly disturbing.  Zinnie Selwyn’s director notes say they have “striven to approach the work from a base of truth” and that funny will follow.  Brilliantly accomplished on both counts, team!

The energy and exuberance of the acting took The Royals of Kihikihi above what could have become morose.  There was plenty of humour, albeit on the dark side.  And it was so darn good!  It will leave you thinking, but it left me excited too, that we have so much young talent ‘treading the boards’ right here in Auckland.

See it! It’s a must! Only $18/$20 with an election 2014 special of $14.

To Sam and the crew: Congratulations! I’m already looking forward to your next production!

 

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