The Brave

Overview

Eight young men enter the stage; Maori, Pacific, Pakeha men dressed in knee pads, trainers, sleeveless tops, and shorts. This group of actors have stories to tell, they aren't cleverly crafted fictitous stories though. They result from their own experience and are all the more powerful for it.

Each actor recites a letter written to a person who has been influential in their lives and through these stories they reveal the joys and heartache related to growing up and trying to find their places in the world. Several letters are addressed to parents, some express gratitude, another forgiveness and perhaps the most poignant of all speaks to a mother living with a serious illness. There are confessions of other kinds too. Some talk about body image issues or societal expectations and the struggle to just be yourself, no matter what people may think of you. There are also plenty of laughs and alongside the poetry the men put their performance skills to good use to convey the kinds of things boys enjoy doing, like play sports, share a joint or dance in a club as they psyche themselves up into talking to girls.

This Massive Company production is a sincere, dynamic and intimate work. It confronts the fallacy that men can't talk about their feelings without trivialising how difficult it can be for them. A friend said to me afterwards that at the start of the show he wanted to get to know the men and by the end he felt that he had. I couldn't agree more, these are some extremely self-aware and yes, brave men. Personally I go to the theatre to be entertained, to think and to be moved. If you have similar ideas, then The Brave is definitely for you.