Māreikura: A love letter to wāhine
Monday, 6 July 2026
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REVIEW: I left Circa Theatre on feeling something I had not expected. As a first-generation Pākehā male, I have never felt so connected to Māori culture, so moved by a celebration of wāhine, or so proud to have my daughter sitting beside me witnessing it. Māreikura did that.
The Tīwhas, Aotearoa’s beloved takatāpui drag super group, announced themselves with intent. Silhouetted against blinding light, the queens strutted down from the stage to the floor one by one, each making their introduction to whooping, finger snapping and a crowd that was ready to party. They had arrived.
Led by Dame Jthan, Slay West, Pānia and Tina Coco Couture, the show channels the essence of mothers, sisters, aunties and nans. The crowd, vocal and fully invested from the first moment, needed no encouragement. Nelly’s Hot in Here early in the evening set an energy that never really let up.
Later it got personal. Each queen performed a song reflecting her own mother. Pānia performed an original piece to her mother on her wedding day, dressed in a recreation of the very gown she wore, introduced with a story of little money for photos and the necessity of renting the gown. Cue tears.
Tina Coco Couture performed Yellow Bird with a masterful poi, precise and graceful. Slay West set hers up perfectly, sharing that her Pākehā mother was always either cleaning or singing Fleetwood Mac. She only does one of those things, she told us, before launching into Landslide. The audience was hers.
A reimagining of Cell Block Tango built around the pioneering wāhine who have shaped Aotearoa was joyous, sharp and politically alive. It brought the house down.
Among the wāhine honoured were Carmen Rupe and Chrissy Witoko, Dame Whina Cooper, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Dame Hinewehi Mohi, who sang the national anthem in te reo Māori for the first time at the 1999 Rugby World Cup, and Georgina Beyer. Dame Jthan’s portrayal of Beyer, the world’s first openly transgender MP, was impassioned, fiery and completely correct.
Her speech emphasising the rights of takatāpui was not performance for performance’s sake. It needed to be said, and it needed to be heard.
The evening’s most joyous moment came when Dame Jthan’s mother joined her on stage during the siva. Others followed, family and friends spilling on to the stage, and what had been a performance became something more communal, more intimate, and altogether more special. “My mum,” Dame Jthan announced. “My baby,” replied Mum. The room melted.
The band, Ngāi Tīwha, were not merely accompanists but an integral part of the show itself, stepping forward for solo performances of their own. Vocalists Kree Matthews and Mila Te Whare-Manson were outstanding throughout. My daughter provided a running commentary of the songs on display, many given a te reo twist. She even recognised a waiata from her own recent Big Sing performance. She was in her element.
The show closed with a full company lip sync of Beyoncé’s Run the World (Girls) - high energy choreography, the entire ensemble giving everything, the crowd on their feet. It was the only way to end it.
I didn’t stay for the shared supper that followed. In the spirit of Matariki, the kai is no afterthought — it is the whakanoa, the return to the everyday after the tapu of the performance. I should have stayed.
Māreikura runs at Circa until July 11.