The Caulder family are one of the original Pākehā families that settled in Mt Albert, Auckland, late 1800s.
Over a hundred years later, the remaining working class descendants of the Caulders still rattle around the huge old villa, a very old world pushed up against the new. The men bet on dogs and horses, they work in factories. Women are nurses or receptionists, always found in kitchens with cigarette packets in apron pockets.
In August 2005, the matriarch dies, the same week as the devastating Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. The adult children must now come together, from near and far, and battle alcoholism, each other, drugs, and grief on a simultaneously global and intimate scale.
Ultimately, they must bury their mother.
Sean Penn is in His Boat was Runner-up of the Adam NZ Play Award 2016.