Mama Moo: The ghost cow, the vegan and the widowed butcher

Mama Moo is a new absurdist comedy from Prayas Theatre, New Zealand's largest South Asian theatre company, in which a widowed butcher who can see his dead wife's ghost slaughters a cow that then becomes a spiritual matchmaker and life coach, setting him on a course to win the heart of an animal rights activist. Writer Nimish Tanna started researching the ethics of vegetarianism after being embarrassed at a work drinks when he couldn't articulate why he was vegetarian. Six months of research later, he found a story in the conflict. He's a vegan; his wife is a meat lover. It is, he says, largely working out. The show runs at TAPAC from 21 to 26 September, with a live band on stage.