Delightfully outspoken actress, writer and “Crazy-Grief” pod-caster, Tatiana Hotere (Surviving Summer, The Tender Trap) stars in the return of her semi-autobiographical play Skin Hunger.
Skin Hunger is one woman’s journey through grief, God and ‘gasms. Raw, passionate, sexy and heartbreakingly funny. Hotere adds that her play is for anyone who’s ever lost someone and had to find themselves (and perhaps their clitoris) again.
After the death of her beloved husband – grief-stricken Eva, a perimenopausal woman of faith – embarks on a journey of self-discovery, spiritual awakening and sexual empowerment. Amidst a deluge of tragic tinder dates, self-doubt and Catholic guilt, she finds the courage to forge a new path for her life in the chaotic aftermath. Eva discovers – there is always life after death.
Hotere cheerfully admits that there are elements of her own life which colour Eva’s world, including her Brazilian childhood where she was raised on Catholicism and Mardi Gras before meeting the amazing Māori man who was to become her husband. The man who would bring her to New Zealand where they would raise their two beautiful daughters. The man she would lose. “Still, the piece is as much about Eva’s grief as it is about hope and her empowerment. This is what I would love the audience to take away amidst the tears and laughter” adds Hotere.
“It’s like the movies ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ and ‘P.S – I Love You’ collided with the ‘Flea Bag’ television series,” laughs director Romy Hooper. The last time Hooper helmed a play at the Auckland Fringe Festival she won the Best Director Award. Says Hooper, “With such a hot team, and a story as uplifting as it is insightful, moving, and funny Skin Hunger is destined to be one of those theatre experiences that will have audiences talking about it long afterwards.”
You’ll smile, you’ll cry, and indeed – you might find your clitoris.
Read my review of the 2022 premiere of Skin Hunger here.
Listen to my 2022 interview with Tatiana Hotere here.
Copy for this article supplied by the producer Kaituhi Creative.
SKIN HUNGER plays at Q Theatre:
Dates: 7-11 November 2023 6.30pm
Venue: Q Theatre
Tickets: $26 – $40
