Award-winning New Zealand Play No2 Celebrates Family
"...an expertly performed, glorious piece of theatre..." - The Scotsman
An ancient, cantankerous Fijian matriarch decides at 4am one morning that her time is up and, in true Fijian fashion, she orders her grandson to organize a feast so she can name her successor.
The award-winning New Zealand play No2 comes to Leeward Community College Theatre for two shows, Friday February 10th and Saturday February 11th, at 8pm. Advance Tickets are $15 general admission, available from www.eticketHawaii.com charge by phone at 944-2697, and from all UH Ticket Outlets.
Fast-moving and tender, No2 features well-known actor Madeleine Sami as the sole performer playing all nine characters in the story. Acclaimed as a "virtuoso performance", Sami was awarded the Chapman Tripp New Zealand Theatre Award for Outstanding Performance in the play's first season in 1999.
Nanna Maria wakes up at four in the morning and declares to her second grandson Erasmus, just home from his night job, her intention to name her successor at a feast that very evening, to which all her grandchildren and none of her children are invited. She invites only one 'outsider', Father Francis, because the feast is to be like the ones in Sicily where a priest is always present. And there is to be one more unexpected guest...
The play performed to capacity audiences throughout New Zealand and went on to international seasons in Holland, Jamaica, Mexico, Edinburgh, London and New York, winning an Edinburgh Fringe Festival First Award in 2000. The play was remounted in New Zealand by leading Auckland theatre company, Silo Theatre for a sold-out season in April 2009.
Writer Toa Fraser was inspired to pen No2 to celebrate a way of life before it vanished. In No2, Fraser created a touching observation of the raucous joy, shifting dynamics and the chaos that only an extended family knows, as Nanna Maria presides over a family feast intending to name her "No. 2"; her successor. Fraser developed No2 into a hit film which won the World Dramatic Audience Award at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival.
"This show is fabulous ... No2 is a thrilling theatrical experience." - Dominion Post, Wellington
"A subtle, humanistic and engaging piece of new theatre. Sami takes our breath away with the sheer cleverness and athleticism of her performance.' - Mark Brown, Scotland
No2 is presented on Oahu by Leeward Theatre, East West Center and Tim Bostock Productions. It is supported by the Performing Arts Presenters of Hawaii, funded in part by the State Foundation of Culture and the Arts through appropriations from the State of Hawaii and the National Endowment for the Arts. It was first produced by Silo Theatre, Auckland, New Zealand.
SUMMARY
No2 at Leeward Community College Theatre, Feb 10 & 11 at 8pm
Advance Tickets $15 general admission, available from www.eticketHawaii.com , charge by phone at 944-2697, and from all UH Ticket Outlets.
More information at http://LCCtheatre.hawaii.edu
