The Untold Tales of Maui

Taki Rua Productions and Humourbeasts invite you to enter into a new kind of theatre experience. Join us as we bring the ancient legends of Maui-tikitiki-a Taranga into the modern age and tell them in a funny way.

Young Tama is a troubled teen. His Nanny a simple but wise woman, is given the task of imparting to her wayward grandson, the sacred knowledge and lessons of her forefathers through the tales of Maui, our most revered ancestor.

The stories take us on a journey into ancient Hawaiki, to a time when the sun raced across the sky like an impatient horse and you could catch fish the size of a small South Pacific nation. Centring around Maui, the tales follow him from birth to death, include all the famous myths and also one or two that have, up until now, never been heard.

At first, young Tama has no interest in these ancient myths, but through his Nanny’s incredible storytelling abilities, coupled with state of the art multi-media devices such as massive back-projections, puppetry and computer animated characters, the young fool is soon drawn in to the mysterious and fantastical world of Maui and his famous exploits.

Reviews

“Funniest play of the year”
- NZ Herald, December 2003

“…so hilarious the audience was in stitches”
- Sunday Star Times, December 2003

“ Humourbeasts Jemaine Clement and Taika Cohen offer the funniest, freshest burst of Maori-driven humour since the “whiti repati” of dear departed Billy T James”
- NZ International Arts Festival, Dominion Post, March 2004