When actor Iaheto Ah Hi steps on stage tonight in NZ Festival play Black Faggot, he’ll do so only a month after his son drowned. But he tells Tessa Johnstone ‘this is what I do’.
Of the eight or so characters Iaheto Ah Hi plays in Black Faggot, it is the mum that resonates with him the most.
Ah Hi’s son, Jesse Tamatea, drowned in Gisborne just a month ago. The 25-year-old was kayaking with his partner at Pouawa Beach when strong offshore winds got them into trouble – a passerby managed to help Tamatea’s partner to safety, but Tamatea was never found.
“I almost gave up,” says Ah Hi about the play following his son’s death. “About a month ago I almost contacted [the director] and said I couldn’t do it. But this is what I do, I’ve been doing it for most of my life. I’m good at it, and I enjoy it, and I think would be a shame if I gave it all up. So here I am.”
It is Ah Hi’s third run of the Multinesia production of Black Faggot – a play about being young, gay and Samoan – and different characters get to him each time. This time, for obvious reasons, it’s the mum.
“There’s a speech at the end there that as a performer, it touches very close to heart. But I stay focused and stay within the character so I’m safe as a performer.
“[Director] Roy Ward was fantastic and worked through it with me so I don’t breakdown on stage, because that would have been awkward.”
The former Naked Samoan, best known for his roles in Sione’s Wedding and Sione’s 2: Unfinished Business, says the whole show is “full-on”.
“It’s in your face, lots of energy . . . and we pretty much just take you on a real fast-paced journey from beginning to end.”
The Naenae-bred, St Bernard’s College old boy is looking forward to having family pack out the NZ Festival shows in Wellington this week. Though with his cousin Taofia Pelesasa playing the other eight characters, there could be family controversy.
“We kiss on stage. And we’ve been talking about whether we should or not, kissing cousins and all that. So that’s interesting. I reckon we need to to tell the story, but it’ll be funny meeting our rellies afterwards.”
As the title may suggest, Black Faggot is somewhat confronting.
“The humour is so full-on, I can’t find any other way to describe it. But it’s hard to be offended, judging from the reactions, because it’s so over the top. It’s almost satire.”
Ah Hi says he understands playwright Victor Rodger based his play on the people he knows, and his experiences in Samoan and gay communities. But there is something in it for everyone, says Ah Hi.
“I think the message is tolerance – tolerance, love and acceptance. And that these characters, they’re real people, we’re telling their stories. Even though it’s a Samoan gay experience, there are stories in there that touch people. There’s something they can relate to – it’s universal because it’s about tolerance, acceptance and love.”
THE DETAILS
Black Faggot, starring Iaheto Ah Hi and Taofia Pelesasa, directed by Roy Ward, written by Victor Rodger, Hannah Playhouse (formerly Downstage Theatre), tonight until March 1, 9pm.
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