{"id":474955,"date":"2026-06-13T06:15:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T06:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/474955\/"},"modified":"2026-06-13T06:15:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T06:15:12","slug":"sons-of-vao-auckland-theatre-company-debuts-first-niuean-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/474955\/","title":{"rendered":"Sons of Vao: Auckland Theatre Company debuts first Niuean play"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAre you really at peace? Are you ready for it?\u201d Polata\u2019ivao asks.<\/p>\n

In rehearsals, only a small group of cast and crew hear the story. Soon, hundreds of strangers will be watching.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you ready for that? Are you at peace with people coming into your life and your world? Because even if they are not those names, they are lives that you know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe generosity in giving something like this as a gift to our people, is very, like all great pieces, great stories, great theatre, it opens up stuff to be spoken about, to come forth,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\"SonsSons of Vao playwright\/co-director Vela Manusaute. Photo \/ NZ Herald<\/p>\n

For Manusaute, the answer has taken more than four decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s taken a long time for me to get this story out,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt deals with me, deals with who I am, it deals with my background, deals with why I am, because of my father and all that.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe passed on. We didn\u2019t say goodbye. So it was time for me to write something.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than 20 years after his father\u2019s death, the play became a chance to lay down the anger he had carried for decades. At its heart, Sons of Vao is about making peace with the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t carry the hate. I can\u2019t carry that anger. I can\u2019t carry that. So what can I do about it? I can write. I can create.\u201d<\/p>\n

Writing became a way to process experiences he had carried for years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not my life, but the energy is my life,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe core is my story, who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

Theatre has shaped that journey since he was a teenager. After being kicked out of Selwyn College, drama teacher June Renwick persuaded the principal to give him another chance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got kicked out of school, and she went and told the principal to let me back in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Polata\u2019ivao describes Renwick as \u201cthe teacher who saved him\u201d.<\/p>\n

Now in her late 80s, Manusaute\u2019s former drama teacher will be in the audience on opening night. He says her presence at the premiere feels like a chance to come full circle and say thank you.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s some kind of a gift for her, to say thank you,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Renwick introduced him to drama at a time when expressing emotions did not come easily.<\/p>\n

\u201cDrama has always been, it\u2019s hard on me, you know, we don\u2019t show our feelings. I think drama is the best thing for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cRemember, I can cry and laugh on the spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SonsSons of Vao playwright\/co-director Vela Manusaute with co-director Anapela Polata\u2019ivao.<\/p>\n

Theatre took him to Toi Whakaari New Zealand Drama School, where he was accepted on his fourth attempt.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got in the fourth time into drama school because I didn\u2019t fit the mould. But I\u2019m still here after 37 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou came here as a boy, and you left as a man,\u201d he says of his time at drama school.<\/p>\n

The pair met in 1995, when a Pacific Theatre production featuring Polata\u2019ivao visited Toi Whakaari during Manusaute\u2019s first year at drama school. It was the beginning of a partnership that has spanned more than three decades, as life partners and creative collaborators.<\/p>\n

Manusaute became Toi Whakaari\u2019s first Niuean graduate in 1996. Polata\u2019ivao followed a few years later, emerging from the gruelling, highly disciplined training that shaped her career as an actor, director and writer.<\/p>\n

After graduating in 2002, Polata\u2019ivao challenged Manusaute to think about the next generation of Pacific artists.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was absolutely no work for us,\u201d Manusaute says. \u201cThe only way was, we need to create something.\u201d<\/p>\n

Together, they would go on to build a family and establish Kila Kokonut Krew, a company that helped create opportunities for Pacific artists and bring more Pacific stories to the stage.<\/p>\n

Polata\u2019ivao remembers those early years as a time of fearlessness.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were very unafraid.\u201d Asked whether she would have achieved the same things without Manusaute beside her, she doesn\u2019t hesitate. \u201cNo, I don\u2019t think so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manusaute is quick to acknowledge Polota\u2019ivao\u2019s role in everything they built together.<\/p>\n

\u201cBell\u2019s always been the cornerstone of our success because she\u2019s real. She keeps me real,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m Niuean-Samoan. She\u2019s full Samoan. She\u2019s the head girl of \u014ct\u0101huhu College. I\u2019m the head boy of the bus stop. Creativity brought us together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now they find themselves working on perhaps the most personal project of their careers.<\/p>\n

For Polota\u2019ivao, directing Sons of Vao offered a deeper understanding of the man she has spent more than 30 years alongside.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe wonderful Bells here, we\u2019ve been together over 30 years. And finally she gets to read the play,\u201d Manusaute says. \u201cShe said, \u2018Oh my God, you make sense.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The play revealed experiences and relationships that shaped him long before they met.<\/p>\n

\" Epine Bob Savea and Brett Taefu during rehearsals for Sons of Vao. Photo \/ Andi Crown<\/p>\n

Polata\u2019ivao says she admires his willingness to expose those parts of himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know I\u2019m not brave enough to be able to put myself on the line like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

While rooted in Manusaute\u2019s own experiences, Sons of Vao explores issues familiar to many Pacific families. At its heart are fathers and sons, expectations of masculinity, and the impact unresolved pain can have across generations.<\/p>\n

Asked about discipline, Polata\u2019ivao says the conversation extends beyond physical punishment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a discipline, physical, and then there\u2019s the abuse, psychological.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike someone\u2019s figure, someone\u2019s tone, someone\u2019s way they look at you, it all contributes to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s what Val\u2019s written here as well. It\u2019s those different layers.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Manusaute, theatre has provided a language for emotions that many Pacific men are often taught to suppress.<\/p>\n

\u201cDrama has helped me articulate my feelings, for myself, who I am, and never be shy of who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says those experiences shaped the kind of father he wanted to be. Together, he and Polata\u2019ivao raised a daughter and two sons.<\/p>\n

As Sons of Vao heads to the stage, the next generation is already involved, with their youngest son helping behind the scenes during rehearsals.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy words speak for itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve learned words are powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Polata\u2019ivao believes stories like Sons of Vao create opportunities for conversations many families struggle to have.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere has to be hope. Everyone has to go, \u2018He came through it okay.\u2019 There\u2019s got to be hope. And there has to be the next day, to get better and better and better, as people.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Manusaute, the possibility that the play might help someone else makes the vulnerability worthwhile.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they come and they feel inspired by telling their story, that\u2019s fantastic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is my story. You\u2019re coming to my world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The conversation he never had with his father has become a play. For Manusaute, it is a way of making peace with the past and letting go of the anger he carried for years.<\/p>\n

Sons of Vao runs from June 18 to July 5 at the ASB Waterfront Theatre in Auckland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cAre you really at peace? Are you ready for it?\u201d Polata\u2019ivao asks. In rehearsals, only a small group…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[51,1656,35140,156,1888,111,139,239316,69,1118,10538,10707,7069,239315],"class_list":["post-474955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-auckland","tag-company","tag-debuts","tag-entertainment","tag-first","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-niuean","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-play","tag-sons","tag-theatre","tag-vao"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}