Going West Festival Theatre Season: Goodbye My Feleni

Goodbye My Feleni is the story of three naïve, adventure-hungry lads – a Samoan, a Niuean and a Cook Islander – as they prepare to embark for the battlefields of North Africa as reinforcements for the New Zealand Army’s Māori Battalion.

Simi, Tama and Ioane are thousands of miles from home and family, fighting in another country’s army, in a war that’s half way round the world. Why are they here? Where do they belong? Who are they fighting for?

Bold, honest and sensitively drawn, the award-winning Goodbye My Feleni (Goodbye My Friend) weaves Pasifika humour, song and storytelling into a moving homage to men from the Islands who fought in the battlefields of Europe during World War II.

Entirely unique and sensitively drawn the critically acclaimed Goodbye My Feleni is written by award-winning Samoan playwright DF Mamea (To'ona'i), produced by Jenni Heka and directed by Shadon Meredith and Amelia Reid-Meredith (Le Tonu). Goodbye My Feleni features a powerhouse cast of new generation Pasifika actors including Dominic Ona Ariki (The Brave, My Bed My Universe), Shadon Meredith (Hypothesis One, Le Tonu, The Arrival) , Pua Magasiva (Shortland Street, Sione’s Wedding) and Shimpal Lelisi (Naked Samoans, bro’Town, A Frigate Bird Sings).