WET – Te Pou Theatre: March 5, 2026 (13th Floor Theatre Review)

WET welcomes you to a world of “cliterature,” fun and whanau. Which don’t always mix, we discover. Turns out that mixture creates some angst to negotiate too.

Our protagonist is Aroha (Bronwyn Turei), recently divorced and finding her way. Aroha is our own Nora – her story starts as Ibsen’s character slams her door, and opens the sealed section of a Cosmopolitan.

She’s made her choice and a new life for herself. Some tend bar. Some take in laundry. Our Aroha, enthusiastically prudish but with a daughter to support, is writing erotic fiction. She’s not good at it, not yet, but she’s paying her way. She’s growing. She has supportive friends (an energetic Paul Fagamalo). She’s getting back to her good strong self. And we watch her grow into the woman her whanau know she can be.

It’s a bold play: a sort of Sex and the City meets Doll’s House II – by an Ibsen who’s read too much Playgirl. Partly autobiographical? Who knows, and it’s not our business to pry. Writer Tūī Matelau can be very pleased at performance and production. None of her lines are wasted, and her play’s denouement is quietly exquisite.

Not so the climax!

Not every player pulls it off. Xavier Horan  has perhaps the hardest job – gigolo, Lothario, one minute Heathcliff the next the awful Edward Murdstone. All that and choreography to take on too!

The set (Dan Williams) supports the action. There’s a boudoir/Shanghai Lil’s vibe going on, quickly changing to suburban kitchen with noises off. Lighting (Bekky Boyce) gives us the lava lamp feel when called for (which it often does).

Abundant humour, plenty of pathos, a touch of erotica (a busy role here for Intimacy Coordinator Jennifer Ward-Lealand!) it could be a great one for as a late-night ladies’ night out closer to the city. (An after-hours Basement show perhaps?)

A fun night out, with a good woman ending up on top.

THEATRE PETER

WET: A bold new award-winning play about pleasure, power, and the politics of being heard. Showing at Te Pou Theatre, 5-15 March 2026.

Interview here with playwright Dr Tūī Matelau

Tickets here.