Brother act in WHERE WE ONCE BELONGED!

Celebrated Samoan actors Robbie and Pua Magasiva both appear in ATC's new play WHERE WE ONCE BELONGED that premiers at Downstage Theatre on Saturday March 8 and runs till March 16. WHERE WE ONCE BELONGED marks the first time the brothers will appear on stage together. In 2007 they appeared together on the silver screen in SIONE'S WEDDING. Besides them Joy Vaele takes the lead role of Alofa Filiga, a young girl that begins to come to terms with her own changing sense of identity and the price she must pay for it as she navigates the mores and restrictions of her Samoan village. Vaele burst on stage in Pacific Underground's production of DAWN RAIDS, and also appeared in the feature films SIONE'S WEDDING, ROMEO & TUSI and TATAU - RITES OF PASSAGE. She was in the original cast of FRANGIPANI PERFUME which toured to Canada in 2006. Anapela Polataivao and Goretti Chadwick, last seen on stage in Auckland Theatre Company's hugely successful MY NAME IS GARY COOPER, round off the ensemble cast.

Lively, spirited and fiercely written, WHERE WE ONCE BELONGED is a starkly honest, sometimes brutal, yet often wildly funny coming-of-age story co-produced by the Festival and Auckland Theatre Company during March, written by Sia Figiel and adapted for the stage by Dave Armstrong.

"This is a coming of age story in Samoa that Margaret Mead could never have imagined. Brave, brutal, unflinchingly honest and very, very funny," says director Colin McColl, "it has the same innocent perspective on a chaotic rite of passage as MISTER PIP or THE KITE RUNNER."

The staging of WHERE WE ONCE BELONGED draws on traditional Samoan fale-style storytelling techniques where the audience sits right around the performance area.

"At previews of WHERE WE ONCE BELONGED audiences were swept away. Like Dave Armstrong's previous hit NIU SILA, WHERE WE ONCE BELONGED has the same simple, honest staging which highlights the storytelling and celebrates the actor's talent and invention," says McColl.

Leading artist Michel Tuffery is the production's scenic designer. He has created a contemporary space with subtle use of Samoan motifs. A large transparent Perspex Palm frond hovers over the stage at once locating the work in Samoa and providing a curved roof to the performance space similar to a fale.

"The transparency of the palm and the stage floor are integral to the work" says Tuffrey, "I wanted to place Alofa is an environment where nothing Alofa does or thinks is private; Alofa's world is totally open to the scrutiny of her family and other villagers."

The conflict between private and public realms is an allegory for the emergence of a Western-influenced individual "I" in Samoa and its struggle with the traditional village way of life which where the communal "We" rules.

"While most recent Pacific Island theatre, television and film has centred on the Samoan experience within New Zealand society, WHERE WE ONCE BELONGED has a point of difference; it's a Samoan story based in 1970s Samoa - a society on the cusp of change," says McColl.

Watch some exclusive pictures from the rehearsals for the show in Auckland here, or go to the Big Idea to read an interview with Director Colin McColl. Ticket prices range from $35.00 - $47.50, you can buy tickets at the Downstage box office or online here.