“That’s my thank you to him, at the highest level. Saying, here you go, that’s my father’s story, this is my story, this is who I am” – Vela Manusaute
From his early days with Killa Kokonut Krew, to his various appearances on stage and screen, Vela Manusaute’s always been known for his comedy and humor.
It’s an attribute he has been able to hone over the years, allowing him to tell amazing stories all across the country.
But when it came to telling his own story, Vela found it difficult to do so especially when it was about his own father.
“Everyone used to say to me, man your dad’s a funny guy. I’m like, I don’t see him as funny,” he says.
“The story has been calling me out for many years, I kinda put it away, I was just a bit too… not ready for it,” Vela says.
“[It’s] only the last five years that I wrote the story inspired by my father’s journey and my relationship with my father”
That relationship with his father, fraught at times, has finally been put on paper in a play titled, ‘Sons of Vao’. It is seen through his eyes as a child, a young adult and as a man. It dives deep into messages of love, abuse, trauma and forgiveness.
“My father passed away without us making peace with him,” Vela says.
“I’m seeing it through as a child and asking the question, why is he like that? And trying to find peace with myself.”
Sons of Vao is currently on show at the ASB Waterfront Theatre, and is the first Niuean play to be picked up by the Auckland Theatre Company and performed at the venue.
Upon reflecting on his father and growing up in Central Auckland, having his story being told at ASB Waterfront Theater has been a full circle moment for Vela.
“Many years ago we lived in Ponsonby. We used to walk down and do some fishing with my father. And I am at the theatre looking like, that’s the wharf, you know?
“Forty-something years ago we were there, and now his story is on the main stage. Just watching the words and hearing it is like going through it again.
“But when the actors bring it, I’m old enough now to sit through it.”
One of those actors helping bring the play to life on stage is Haanz Faavae Jackson.
Also of Niuean heritage, Faavae Jackson says being part of the performance is a special moment for himself.
“Vela gives me a call and I’m like, hey I am there. It wasn’t like hey I got a job for you bro. This one had a bit more care to it and it meant something to him,” he says.
“I’ve done a lot of work with Vela, a lot of comedies, you know a lot of family shows. So it’s really different having this deep dive into Vela’s personal journey of him and his father’s relationship.”
As he helps Vela bring the story to life, Faavae Jackson says that it’s also proof of how the arts can help tell stories of forgiveness, helping people to heal and to overcome the past.
“A lot of us artists, we come from a lot of families that aren’t in the arts. And they find it hard to navigate these conversations so, when we bring them to the theatre, it’s like yeah this is how we are expressing, so let’s start the conversation now,” he says.
And it’s a conversation that Vela is now starting to have, as he tells his story about his father, as his way of honouring him through all that has happened.
“I’m proud that this story is able to have an opportunity to tell,” he says.
“My father is not here but I am able to celebrate him, in a way. That’s my thank you to him, at the highest level. Saying, here you go, that’s my father’s story, this is my story, this is who I am.
“Faafetai Dad.”
