Silo Theatre Gives Brotherhood Full, Poetic Voice
Silo Theatre presents the NZ Premiere of
THE BROTHERS SIZE
".Listen closely, and you might hear that thrilling sound that is one of the main reasons we go to the theatre, that
beautiful music of a new voice..."
- THE NEW YORK TIMES
A tour-de-force from the leading young voice of the African American theatre, Tarell Alvin McCraney's THE BROTHERS SIZE
is set to thrill audiences with its sheer kinetic energy - words, bodies and actions rebound at Auckland's Herald
Theatre from May 27.
Recently paroled Oshoosi Size finds an uneasy home with his older brother Ogun in the atmospheric bayou country of
Louisiana. Ogun - straight living and hard working - feels both the charge and resentment of a life long duty to protect
his permanently innocent younger brother. With the arrival of the charming and sinister Elegba, an ex-con with his own
claims to the brotherhood, a delicate stability is threatened and fraternal ties will be tested.
Tarell Alvin McCraney's work relocates Nigerian myth to the grit of urban reality, the projects. His writing touches on
a wealth of traditions while re-imagining their relevance to contemporary audiences. Armed with the voice of the street,
McCraney folds together slangy vernacular with bursts of glorious heartfelt poetry, making THE BROTHERS SIZE next
generation theatre which is spiritually infused, highly theatrical but immediately accessible.
".McCraney writes with a passion and urgency that can't be faked, in a style that invests ordinary lives with the
grandeur of ancient gods. Watching these plays, you experience the excited wonder that comes from witnessing something
rare in the theatre : a new, authentically original vision."
- THE NEW YORK TIMES
McCraney was raised in the projects of Miami, with family members who battled drug addiction and a mother who died from
an AIDS-related illness at the age of 40. He's described the world of theatre as a lifeline out of the poverty that
dominated his upbringing: "Theatre, as well as dance and music, allowed me the ability to put the large questions into a
form that, at least, ordered them into a more beautiful chaos. That's all we ever really want in life, right? To feel
like we can for a moment order the chaos into something managable, or at least perceptible."
Described by the Chicago Tribute as "the greatest piece of writing by an American playwright under 30 in a generation or
more", THE BROTHERS SIZE was written when McCraney was just 25. It forms the second part of a trilogy called THE
BROTHER/SISTER PLAYS and has been met with critical acclaim and clutches of awards. It has gone on to become on of the
most performed plays on international stages, with acclaimed companies such as Steppenwolf, the Young Vic and New York's
Public Theater picking it up for production.
New Zealand's own theatrical trail blazer Silo Theatre has engaged a trio of some of New Zealand's finest Maori and
Pacific Island talent to bring alive this physical, poignant epic. Pua Magasiva (Sione's Wedding, Well Hung), Jarod
Rawiri (Matariki, The Arrival) and Te Kohe Tuhaka (Tama Tu, Shortland Street) explore the counterpoint between our own
cultural heartbeat and contemporary (African) American culture. Auckland composer Tama Waipara has been commissioned to
create a soundtrack which will fuse West African drumming, soul, R and hip-hop.
Following his critically acclaimed 2010 productions That Face and When The Rain Stops Falling, Silo Theatre Artistic
Director Shane Bosher directs his first production of 2011.
THE BROTHERS SIZE plays
May 27th - June 18th 2011
Herald Theatre, THE EDGE
Tickets: $25.00 - $49.00 (service fees apply)
Tickets available through THE EDGE - www.buytickets.co.nz or 09 357 3355
ends