Talented actors draw a full house

Follow, Follow, Follow
Arts on Wednesday, Massey Auditorium.
Massey University Drama Society, directed by Amanda McRaven.
Reviewed by LIAM NAPIER.

 The Massey University auditorium was full for a performance about the challenging transition from youth to adulthood, as part of the Arts on Wednesday programme.

Follow, Follow, Follow is a dramatic theatrical rendition written by Massey lecturer Angie Farrow.

Six committed and convincing actors are concealed from the outside world for their own protection.

The reason for this is unknown, and therefore slightly confusing.

Apple, Biddie and the cast of organically-named characters are fed bread each day through a mysterious mailbox, and are forbidden from speaking about their past, or dreams.

They begin to experience adolescent changes in their voices, movement, and feelings.

Such is their innocence, they have no knowledge of why these changes are occurring and more than a few humorous theories are tossed about.

A boy who discovers his first facial hair thinks he's turning into an animal, and a pregnant woman with a "belly like a balloon" puts the movement in her tummy down to desert rats.

As with normal life, challenges arise and the characters develop the ability to solve their own problems.

The bread stops arriving and tensions are near breaking point before the baby is born, and the evocative feelings are captured nicely.

The birth inspires maturity and a willingness to become an adult, to step out of the realms of childhood.

It is a performance where the theme is clear, the details a little hazy, and the acting gifted.

Follow Follow Follow is definitely worth a look.

The show will be touring most of Manawatu's secondary schools.

Next up is Nga Tawa Diocesan School on Friday, July 31.

- © Fairfax NZ News