When veteran Pasifika theatre directors Vela Manusaute and Anapela Polata‘lvao first worked with Leki Jackson-Bourke, the Tongan-Niuean-Samoan playwright-actor was only 18 and had just finished high school. The couple cast him in a play – as a tree.
He stood on stage with his arms spread out for the entire performance. Jackson-Bourke says his dedication proved he was determined to make it in theatre.
Ten years on, Jackson-Bourke, who has since forged a successful career as an award-winning playwright, has reunited with Manusaute and Polata‘lvao on the Auckland Theatre Company’s production of a stage adaptation of last year’s hit local film about a hastily assembled Tongan community band playing at the Rugby
