Concert Review - A Master of None: Brown Fala - Napier - 12th October 2025

Presented by Kia Mau Festival

Review By - Rob Harbers

Artist - A Master of None: Brown Fala

Venue/City - Napier

Date of Event - 12th October 2025

Day four of the Hawkes Bay Arts Festival 2025 saw the return of Lila Crichton, an alumnus of the Project Prima Volta scheme, with a powerful piece that seeks to address the dark secrets at the heart of his native Samoan culture.

Our story commences with a recreation of a Samoan household, people going about their business routinely. The fala that forms the central motif of the narrative occupies centre stage, in the heart of the home. Through a series of vignettes, we are transported across time, as the male central character grows to maturity.

All appears perfectly charming, until a dark shadow falls across the otherwise peaceful tableau. The ensemble cast perform their roles to a high standard, each contributing to the construction of the narrative.

In one of these vignettes, the Samoan myth of Sina and the Eel is retold. This dark tale, with its themes of obsession and possession, becomes the metaphor at the centre of the production, the hub of its dynamic narrative. To describe the story too much further would be to risk straying in to spoiler territory, so suffice it to say that it’s delivered with great strength and skill.

The theme will stay locked in your head - its central construct a powerful one indeed.

The crew that Lila has gathered for the production is a credit to the vision behind it and also the legacy of Project Prima Volta. This is an initiative which commenced in 2014, with the aim of helping tamariki and rangatahi to find their voice and to have a positive impact on their futures. Every year, an intake of 30-odd students enter the programme and are given an immersion in the operatic arts.

The scheme was created by Hawkes Bay’s own Anna Pierard, a professional mezzo-soprano and her husband, Jose Aparicio, and has had much success, many alumni moving on to bigger things - not just in the opera world, but also using the confidence instilled by the Project Prima Volta scheme in pursuit of their academic careers.

In the words of Project Prima Volta, ‘We’re not just here to train singers. We’re here to hold space for young people to show up, breathe deep, and discover who they are – and who they can count on.’ And this production proved that mission statement perfectly, with one alum showing who he can count on in bringing a production to the stage.

Little more to say, really, apart from go see this if you can!