NZ’s first play about gay Black couple to debut after Covid setbacks – 1News

A play about a Black gay couple looking to adopt will premiere later this month following setbacks caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Po’ Boys and Oysters follows a Black immigrant couple living in Auckland’s Mission Bay – Flo and her wife Jo – as they prepare to break the news of their plans to adopt a Chilean child to Flo’s conservative older sister.

While the award-nominated comedy is centred around the experience of a Black lesbian couple, queer Caribbean actress and playwright Estelle Chout says the complicated yet funny family dynamics are one which can be universally understood.

“We’re all part of humanity,” she told 1News.

The play was written by Chout two years ago following a Zoom meeting with her family – scattered in Martinique and Paris – during the first lockdown which quickly turned “pear-shaped”.

“We reverted back to old arguments and old dynamics,” she said.

Po’ Boys and Oysters is loosely based on Chout’s life.

She has two children with her former partner, who is Pākehā. While none of their children are adopted, she said it was an avenue they had considered.

Chout said she rarely sees stories which reflect her own lived experience as a “proud Black lesbian mother” being represented on stage.

“I wrote Po’ Boys and Oysters to give these characters a voice and provide a platform to a group that has rarely been seen or represented in our theatre.”

The play had been due to premiere as part of the Auckland Pride Festival earlier this year when they were forced to postpone. After their first setback, the cast and crew were excited and “raring to go” when its debut was again pushed back due to Covid-19 restrictions.

It’s also the first play to be produced by community arts organisation Black Creatives Aotearoa, founded by Dione Joseph in 2018, which now boasts more than 600 creatives from African or Afro-Caribbean countries which now call New Zealand home.

“I watched my incredible team respond in different ways to not just one but two postponements – and it was extremely hard. For all of us, I cried. But each time, I knew we would get there,” Joseph said in a media release.

Chout said being able to finally debut the play is a “momentous occasion for this group” after multiple setbacks.

She said she hoped the play would become “a pillar” for Aotearoa’s small but growing group of Black creatives to “bring our stories to the world”.

Po’ Boys and Oysters will show at Auckland’s Basement Theatre from September 27 to October 8.

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