Regan Taylor is a multi-talented and clever storyteller. In his solo play, Re-engineered, he switches between making us laugh to making us think, and also making us question our biases and behaviours.

In this world premiere, we meet the playwright and actor (SolOthello, Ngā Rorirori), on stage as Māori builder Reg, who feels like a very familiar character. He’s the handyman who has turned up to do a job at someone’s house – in this case, a privileged couple in Wadestown. [More]

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Regan Taylor’s profoundly engaging solo play re-engineers his world and life at three intersecting levels, each impacting the others as the work progresses. Comedy, commentary and deep-felt drama blend ingeniously, as Reg from Re-Engineer labours to bring positive change to the lives of his clients, their dog and himself.

Reg is on-site at a Wadestown home to put in a gate and fix the fence to keep Karen and John’s new puppy, Napoleon, safe. But his mere presence in their driveway and garden engenders fear and suspicion in Karen – and later, John – until they realise he’s there to service their needs. He has had to develop strategies for making his clients comfortable.

On this job, Reg is taking the opportunity to record his mahi on his smartphone, to be edited down for his ‘Tips, Tricks and Hacks’ online. His eyeline soon shifts from his phone to us: we are his target audience. He shares a fun-fact about how Moa actually carried themselves, as opposed to what’s shown in illustrations and museum reconstructions, to exemplify the need to broaden our general knowledge.  

As his constructive carpentry takes shape, we are treated to the thoughts and feelings that inevitably flow through Reg’s mind. Thus we gain insight into his brushes with the law engendered by his growing love of alcohol – a love that eventually transcended his love for the woman he now refers to as his ex-wife.

Sessions with a therapist, voiced by Mycah Keall, take Reg down a flight of stairs to a beckoning candle as a means of confronting his nemesis. A happy memory of his Mum and card-playing Aunties recalls the formative moment that made him feel unloved, unwanted and unworthy.

Comedic archetypes, caricatures, a cleverly created pug dog and even a brilliantly realised Robot allow humour to offset the tragic dimensions of highly relatable life experiences – and what Reg made them mean. Conversely some of us are gifted insights into realities we have never personally thought of, let alone had to deal with.

In a sequence that brings the artistry of Kane Parsons’ sound-design to the fore, a Moa is wondrously manifested to recall pre-colonisation times when they were hunted for food and their bones became kōauau. I sense many audience members bringing their own perceptions to this moment. Likewise when a pile of sawdust takes us back to the traditional design of a pā, as both a fortress and a sanctuary.

And so the play arches back over centuries to the Wadestown property where the well-wrought fence and gate now work like a dream, thanks to Reg – who leaves us with salutary advice on how to embrace our own reflections. ‘Tips, Tricks and Hacks’ delivered, as promised.

Backed by exquisite Pōhutukawa-inspired panels, Regan Taylor’s set starts as a self-described mess and ends up fully functioning. En route, Janis Cheng’s lighting design and operation enhance the play’s sudden shifts from present to past, objectivity to subjectivity, reality to fantasy, and tragedy to comedy in ways that deepen our engagement.

Natano Keni’s Director’s Note and Regan’s Writer’s Note reveal a committed collaboration that delights in the blend of inside-out and outside-in perspectives. Now each audience member will filter what they and their crew have created though their own lived experiences to date.

Re-Engineered ingeniously employs the alchemy of theatre to render personal experience universal, with humour and humanity. It deserves to be seen far and wide, and enjoy a long life.

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Tuatahi ake rā me mihi kau atu ki te hunga hangai whakaari! He maha ngā hua pai ka puta mai i taku mātakitaki. Whakanuia!

On the surface, Re-Engineered is a solo performance. But in truth, it’s anything but solitary. Written and performed by Regan Taylor under Maunga Tay-Tay Productions and directed by Natano Keni, with beautiful lighting scapes by Janis Cheng and a stunning set design by Taylor, this work is densely packed with ancestral echoes, childhood memories and sharp social commentary — all masterfully delivered in a tightly held 75-minute performance.

Taylor’s physicality and vocal dexterity populate the space with a cast of characters — Reg the builder, aunties, a pug, a moa and flickers of his younger self. From the moment he enters, there’s an unmistakable sense that this story, though intimate and deeply personal, is being told on behalf of many.

Re-Engineered takes us through Reg’s journey from a man reckoning with his cultural identity, masculinity, and a disassembled sense of belonging. It’s part healing journey, part political reckoning — held together with humour, Te Reo and a nuanced understanding of theatrical form.

What stands out most is Taylor’s ability to shift gears (pun intended) with precision: one moment he’s cracking a joke that lands squarely with the Pōneke crowd; the next, he’s holding us in a raw moment of grief or rage. His performance is both broad and detailed — a reminder of the unique alchemy that solo theatre can offer when an actor fully trusts their material.

Director Natano Keni’s fingerprints are gentle but purposeful. The pacing feels well-measured, the transitions fluid. At no point does the show sag or meander — and that’s a testament to both Taylor’s writing and Keni’s guidance.

Thematically, Re-Engineered is rich terrain. It weaves the legacy of colonisation, intergenerational knowledge, and the often-sidelined emotional landscape of Māori men with clarity and courage. Taylor doesn’t spoon-feed the audience — he challenges us to sit with discomfort, to laugh at ourselves, and to recognise the beauty in reassembling what has been dismantled.

I runga i tērā, tēnā mātaki i tēnei whakaari! Tēnā koutou te tira hangai mō tēnei kōrero hātākehi, kōrero parekareka. Ko te manako ia kia pai te toenga o tō koutou wahanga whakaaturanga.

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