Cellfish by Jason Te Kare, Miriama McDowell & Rob Mokaraka, directed by Jason Te Kare with Erina Daniels For TOA Productions, Globe Theatre, Palmerston North, June 29. REVIEW: Raw, unrelenting and confronting, Cellfish is a timely reminder that our world floats precariously on powerful personal, generational and social undercurrents. The multi-faceted pun of the title hints at these turgid below-surface complexities, and how our everyday streets and suburbs are over-ripe with tragic potential. Lucy, a tutor for Shakespeare Behind Bars is accepted by a prison officer and select inmates of a Department of Corrections facility, and proceeds to introduce them to The Bard. READ MORE: Shakespeare gets taken beyond prison walls in theatre show Cellfish The aim of Shakespeare Behind Bars is to use drama to heal personal and social issues, develop life skills, and reduce recidivism. It provides the writers with a novel vehicle to introduce and frame needed conversations about social disparity in 21st century Aotearoa/New Zealand. While Lucy works hard in the primal prison environment to win acceptance and trust, there is more going on than meets the eye. The young woman has a revenge agenda, and her subtle manipulative presence in the cellblock will have far-reaching consequences. Events then unfold as inevitably and as inexorably as they do in Shakespearean tragedy. Lucy and the members of her male 'harem' are all played by Cellfish co-writer and director Jason Te Kare and Palmy ex-pat Carrie Green. During a riveting, intensely sustained and fluently choreographed 90-minute pas de deux, the pair tag in and out of the play's half-dozen characters. They capture the typical staunch posturing and bravado that shields each prisoner from the system, each other, and from having to know or face their own demons, while defining distinctive personalities and tapping into core emotions. Using Macbeth as primary core text, the play breaks the tension with surreal episodes, and is leavened with plenty of humour, even if the overall environment and prognosis for redemption seems bleak. It shows a country still dealing with its colonial legacy, as reflected by current experiences of social injustice, dispossession and deprivation punctuated by appalling rates of violence against women and children. Its relevance underlined by the recent Oranga Tamariki new-born baby uplift attempt, Cellfish reveals a world where ''hate is easier than love", and where "dead bodies are front page news but no one cares about the ones who survive". The unflinching onstage duo are well supported by an expressive Thomas Press soundscape, with complementing lighting and set by Jane Hakaraia. With many standing to applaud the performers on Saturday night, Cellfish provided a potent way of igniting vital conversations about our pervasive and pressing social crises
Cellfish at The Globe a superbly performed prison pas de deux
Cellfish by Jason Te Kare, Miriama McDowell & Rob Mokaraka, directed by Jason Te Kare with Erina Daniels For TOA Productions, Globe Theatre, Palmerston North, June 29. REVIEW: Raw, unrelenting and confronting, Cellfish is a timely reminder that our world floats precariously on powerful personal, generational and social undercurrents. The multi-faceted pun of the title hints at these turgid below-surface complexities, and how our everyday streets and suburbs are over-ripe with tragic potential. Lucy, a tutor for Shakespeare Behind Bars is accepted by a prison officer and select inmates of a Department of Corrections facility, and proceeds to introduce them to The Bard. READ MORE: Shakespeare gets taken beyond prison walls in theatre show Cellfish The aim of Shakespeare Behind Bars is to use drama to heal personal and social issues, develop life skills, and reduce recidivism. It provides the writers with a novel vehicle to introduce and frame needed conversations about social disparity in 21st century Aotearoa/New Zealand. While Lucy works hard in the primal prison environment to win acceptance and trust, there is more going on than meets the eye. The young woman has a revenge agenda, and her subtle manipulative presence in the cellblock will have far-reaching consequences. Events then unfold as inevitably and as inexorably as they do in Shakespearean tragedy. Lucy and the members of her male 'harem' are all played by Cellfish co-writer and director Jason Te Kare and Palmy ex-pat Carrie Green. During a riveting, intensely sustained and fluently choreographed 90-minute pas de deux, the pair tag in and out of the play's half-dozen characters. They capture the typical staunch posturing and bravado that shields each prisoner from the system, each other, and from having to know or face their own demons, while defining distinctive personalities and tapping into core emotions. Using Macbeth as primary core text, the play breaks the tension with surreal episodes, and is leavened with plenty of humour, even if the overall environment and prognosis for redemption seems bleak. It shows a country still dealing with its colonial legacy, as reflected by current experiences of social injustice, dispossession and deprivation punctuated by appalling rates of violence against women and children. Its relevance underlined by the recent Oranga Tamariki new-born baby uplift attempt, Cellfish reveals a world where ''hate is easier than love", and where "dead bodies are front page news but no one cares about the ones who survive". The unflinching onstage duo are well supported by an expressive Thomas Press soundscape, with complementing lighting and set by Jane Hakaraia. With many standing to applaud the performers on Saturday night, Cellfish provided a potent way of igniting vital conversations about our pervasive and pressing social crises
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