Maui is the story of a rebel. An outcast young warrior, raised amongst the gods, grows up away from his family and from the norms of his people. Upon returning to the natural world, he refuses to accept its social conventions and limitations. Possessing the charisma and the cunning to realise his ambition, Maui repeatedly challenges his surroundings as he strives to impose his will on the world around him.

From the moment of his birth, Maui is marked for both greatness and tragedy. He steals the secret of flame from the goddess of fire, pulls new land from the bottom of the ocean and traps the god of the sun. His achievements begin to transcend mortal limits. Yet, even as he artfully accomplishes these feats, his own hubris tragically drives him to seek immortality itself.

From the outset, the goddess of death waits for Maui, shadowing his development – an ever-present challenge to his ambitions. Never the ruthless hunter, her patient wait is the serene wait of inevitability. For, even as Maui foresees his great personal triumphs, the goddess of death knows she will embrace him in the end.

Maui is the story of limits that are broken and of what can be achieved when they are. It is the story of one man who proves he can fulfil his dreams; and, in striving to realise his last ambition, it is also the story of the one limit that can never be broken.

Who Is Maui?

A charismatic demi-god of ancient Polynesian oral tradition, Maui’s feats rival those of Hercules, the most comparable figure in Greek mythology. Of all the Polynesian ancestors, Maui is the most celebrated and recognised figure, featuring in legends from island-groups that span the Pacific Ocean. Peoples as geographically removed from each other as New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, Hawaii, Tahiti, the Cook Islands and even Thailand all tell stories about Maui, proving just how great the ancient Polynesians were at crossing the seas.

Among these various oral traditions, some stories are exactly the same from island to island, while others differ to a greater or lesser extent. In Hawaii, for example, Maui is said to have fished up many islands, including the one that bears his name to this day; while the oral tradition of the Maori people records the North Island of New Zealand as being the land he fished from the sea. Hence, in the Maori language, the North Island is generally know as Te-Ika-a-Maui (“The Great Fish of Maui”).

His presence in stories found across the Pacific also strongly suggests that Maui is a figures of significant antiquity, given that the stories of his feats must have existed before the prehistoric Polynesians scattered across the Pacific Ocean. While this mean that precise origin of his legends is forever lost in the mists of time, there is no questioning his ongoing significance to the descendants of the ancient Polynesians who carried his spirit with them as they journeyed so far and wide. In Aotearoa (New Zealand), Maui is a central character of Maori mythology, remembered as the main ancestor of various tribes and celebrated as a mythic embodiment of Maori culture.

Back to top

Creators’ Note

Our aim in bringing Maui to the stage has been to realise the inherent theatrical potential of Maui’s life story. To do so, we wanted to combine the emotional power of Maori culture with the magic of Western theatre. The result is a bold and innovative production that, for the first time ever, stages the legends of Maui using a mixture of kapa haka, te reo Maori, aerial theatre, contemporary dance, circus skills and original New Zealand music.

Throughout the show’s five year development, the pursuit of our aims has been informed by our desire to share Maori culture with the world through the medium of theatre. As such, we have made tikanga Maori (the culture) the spiritual foundation of the show. This gives Maui a powerful performance energy that is evident in the various forms of kapa haka (Maori performing arts) the audience sees performed onstage. The intensity of the haka, the haunting cry of the karanga and the precision of Maori martial arts (patu, taiaha and poi) are woven together to create a rich emotional and visual tapestry that generates the underlying wairua (spirit) of Maui.

To this artistic core, we have added the spectacular image of performers “flying” through the air in aerial choreography. Aerialists team with climbers to bring the legends to life, a marriage of culture and technology that exemplifies the mix of traditional and contemporary staging we have drawn upon to create the show.

We believe Maui offers an original performance experience that theatre-goers everywhere will enjoy. With that faith, our ultimate aim is to take Maui to the world’s theatre capitals and to share our stories and culture with the audiences who fill those theatres.

Haere mai koutou, haere mai kia kitea i tenei whakaturanga, otira, ki nga mahi o ou whanaunga. He whakatutukitanga miiharo te rerenga mai o Maui mai i te whanautanga tae noa ki te mate.

Back to top

Production History

The producers have been working to stage Maui for the past 4 years.

The first step was a performance presentation staged in June 2001 for Carla van Zon, the artistic director of the New Zealand International Festival of the Arts, and other invited guests at the New Zealand High Commission in London. The presentation was put together by Tanemahuta Gray, Janine Gainsford and Jamie Ogilvie.

After this, Tane, Janine and Jamie formed a partnership with Andre Anderson (Te Ao Marama Partners) and together they cast, rehearsed and staged 11 public performances of the first two phases of Maui as a 40-minute work-in-progress. The workshop and pilot performances were staged at Te Whaea Theatre, Wellington, from 19-22 February 2003, as part of the New Zealand Fringe Festival. Indications of the pilot’s success included winning three NZ Fringe Festival Awards (for Best Producers, Best Production Design and Most Energetic Performance); a nomination for artistic director, Tanemahuta Gray, as Best Emerging Director at the 2003 Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards; packed houses (all eleven performances were fully booked in advance of opening night, with over 2000 people attending the show); and, finally, very positive public feedback to questionnaire forms distributed at the performances.

Funding for the pilot production (of over $75,000) was raised from Creative New Zealand (the national arts funding body), Wellington City Council and the Ministry of Labour’s Community Employment Group.

In June 2003, the creators received a further $9,000 grant from the Wellington City Council. With this funding, they conducted 3 months of aerial training and kapa haka classes for potential cast members in Wellington.

In October 2003, Te Waka Toi, the Maori arm of Creative New Zealand, contributed $10,000 grant to lead a similar training programme in Auckland. Undertaken between September and December 2004, the training consisted of two kapa haka wananga in Wellington (at Te Herenga Waka and Taputeranga marae), one kapa haka wananga in Auckland (at Whai Ora marae, in Otara) and a four-week aerial training programme at The Auckland Performing Arts Centre in Western Springs, Auckland.

By this time, the production company, Te Ao Marama Tapui Limited, had been incorporated to replace the original partnership. Janine and Jamie had moved on to pursue other interests and investment manager, Richard Boon, became chairman of the production company, alongside Tanemahuta Gray and Andre Anderson as company directors. Richard brought with him a wealth of experience as an investment manager in London and New York and, in his role as Executive Producer, took the lead role in raising the investment capital necessary to stage the world premiere of Maui.

The world premiere of Maui opened at the Westpac St James Theatre in Courtenay Place, Wellington, on Wednesday, 25 May 2005. Staged for 12 public performances, plus 3 performances for school students, the season sold over 9,000 tickets to the public and was seen by 15,000 people. Highly praised by critics, the show was variously described as “phenomenal”, “spectacular” and “powerful”.

The success of the world premiere was reflected in the grants the production was able to secure. In the six months following the season, the production received $85,000 from Creative New Zealand; $25,000 from Te Waka Toi; $6,500 from NZ Trade & Enterprise; and $3,000 from Te Taura Whiri i te Reo (the Maori Language Commission, who described the show as “nation building”).

With funding support also secured from the Christchurch City Council, the second season of Maui opened on Wednesday, 31 May 2006 at the newly refurbished Isaac Theatre Royal in Gloucester Street, Christchurch. With refinements to the script, costumes and lighting, this show was described as a “superb production” by the local critics and attracted 8,000 paying customers over its 14 performances. In addition, over 4,500 school students saw the show across 4 sold-out performances dedicated to school children.

Links

The official web site: www.mauitheshow.com

Back to top