One of several offerings from Te Rēhia Theatre Company at the Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival, this show is full of simple delights as four actors – two male, two female – take on the mythical world of Maui and modernise three stories into funky amusements.

With a few bits of costume and plenty of invitations for audience involvement – this is after all a family show – they retell three famous stories with the perfect backdrop of the Waikato River lapping their sandshoes. In fact it becomes clear that they need these on as their retellings include a great deal of clowning and running on the shingly beach.  

The stories they retell are how Maui fishes up the North Island, how he deceives goddess of fire, here portrayed as a drag queen, and how he holds a dance-off to tire out the sun as it speeds across the sky.

Full of humour and plenty of fart jokes, these retellings are all short punchy and fun and the performers are a delight, sharing around the role of Maui between them along with in-jokes about the writing and pacing of their own production.

It’s a winning, irreverent take on Maui stories and everyone goes way laughing but also informed. In fact I overheard several adults saying that they loved it even though they hadn’t managed to find any children to bring! And as for the children, well they were very much engaged and the requests for assistance to squirt water or chase baddies or help pull up the North island were barely spoken before a line of willing under 10 year olds was formed!

Well done on a perfectly pitched and placed show! 

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