The Factory

The Factory
Kila Kokonut Krew. Festival Theatre, Adelaide. Adelaide Cabaret Festival. June 12-14, 2014, and touring to Parramatta, Canberra, Wollongong and the Gold Coast.

The slogan for this year’s Adelaide Cabaret Festival is “not your usual suspects”, and one of the more unusual events on offer is The Factory, an original stage musical performed by New Zealand theatre troupe, Kila Kokonut Krew.

Set in the mid-70s, the show focuses on Losa (Milly Grant-Koria), a young Samoan immigrant who, upon arriving in South Auckland with her father, Kavana (Aleni Tufaga) finds herself working in a textile factory.  Her unscrupulous boss (Ross Girven) expects his employees to work long hours, for little pay, using badly worn down equipment. Losa soon becomes disillusioned with the “milk and honey” dream churned out by the New Zealand government’s PR machine to encourage immigration, but at the same time she finds herself drawn into a romantic relationship with her employer’s son, Edward (Edward Laurenson).

The entire cast are true triple threats, and in addition to the powerhouse lead performances already mentioned, scene-stealing standouts in the supporting  cast include Taofia Pelesasa, who plays the foreman with rabble-rousing fervour, and Lindah Lepou, convincingly maternal as the “mother hen” of the factory.

Paulina Salima’s score is quite impressively eclectic, with disco, funk and soul infused numbers perfectly capturing the prevailing pop trends of the period, in addition to less slick, more folksy numbers which emphasise the islander heritage of the show’s protagonists. Sean Coyle’s sets and Seraphina Tausilia’s costumes are also superbly evocative, and Amanaki Prescott Faletau’s choreography is positively bursting with energy.

If the production has a fault, it’s that some of the characterisation is painted in very broad strokes, particularly Girven’s nasty bossman. The Factory is only 90 minutes long, and if it was expanded to a full two hours with more dialogue, then the supporting cast would probably come across as more nuanced characters.

Still, this is a show with big heart that offers Adelaide a vision of musical theatre very different to the norm. If you’re in the mood to see something boldly original, then “The Factory” is a must see event.

Benjamin Orchard

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