Anna Whyte reviews The White Guitar, the new play from Christchurch rapper Scribe, his dad and his brother.
The White Guitar. Photo: Unknown
The last place I expected to see a "feat. Scribe" subtitle was in a play in downtown Wellington. Reminiscing of my youth where Scribe dominated the charts, it was strange feeling to see him, his brother and his father sitting before me speaking Samoan.
The play, written by father Fa’amoana John Luafutu, illustrates the lives of the family. From the grandparents to the current situation of his two sons Matthias Luafutu and Malo Luafutu (Scribe).
It was an intimate experience, tagging along on a journey of their lives. It was awkwardly intrusive at times, looking over at Fa’amoana who was perched in the corner playing the guitar, having his sons talk about his past deeds in both admiration and anger.
'I hit you because I love you' was a sentiment repeated throughout the play. The White Guitar explored a range of issues from domestic abuse to drug abuse, to life inside prison and life after.
However, instead of the morbid mood you would expect, comedy was entwined throughout the show, with beautiful pieces of music accompanying us on the journey.
At times in the play it was easy to wonder whether the men were acting out someone else’s made up story.
There were scenes where Fa’amoana is portrayed in violent situations and as being a lousy father to his sons who are performing before him.
We would look over to see his head bowed, concentrating on his music.
Photo: Unknown
The story begins with Fa’amoana’s mother and her gifted white guitar, and goes all the way through to the present day situation of both sons Matthias and Malo and even the devastating effect of the Christchurch earthquake.
We were given brief histories of the creation of gangs in South Auckland, and shown childhoods through eyes most of the audience presumably could never imagine. Stories of Matthias climbing through windows with his father’s friend as he’d “forgotten his keys”, set the audience away in sad laughter.
Matthias switched roles between himself and his father, which although flawless in his acting was somewhat confusing at times. However, his portrayal of his father was perfectly shown in their ever changing relationship, in an eerily truthful performance of the violence and drug abuse that plagued them both.
Scribe told his story of his music career, and performed one of his songs to an ecstatic audience. The performance turned into a moving experience, with him telling the crowd, “You don’t know what this means to me”.
Through the play you really did see his talent as an artist, and what we thought we knew from his songs was only scratching the surface. We look at what actually went on in those sacrificed late nights, and what fame did to him. Ignorance is the feeling that comes from having made quick presumptions about what happened to his music career.
The play definitely doesn’t finish on a happy note, but instead on a downcast and slightly awkward one. However the play isn’t for the audience and doesn’t pretend to be, it is for the family who invited us along the way.
The White Guitar runs from Thursday September 10 to Sunday September 13 in Christchurch.
