National Arts Festival

Te Kuia me te Pūngāwerewere

By Jamie McCaskill, adapted from The Kuia and the Spider by Patricia Grace with illustrations by Robyn Kahukiwa. Te reo Māori translation by Hōhepa Waitoa.

From Taki Rua Productions and Capital E National Theatre for Children.

The beloved children’s book The Kuia and The Spider receives the prequel treatment in Te Kuia Me Te Pūngāwerewere which explores the origins of the argument…

Penned by Jamie McCaskill and translated into te reo Māori by Hōhepa Waitoa, Te Kuia Me Te Pūngāwerewere tells the untold backstory and real reason why the old lady and the spider are constantly arguing about whose weaving is superior. Travelling back dimensionally into the spider world, Kui and Pūpai must solve the request of the PPP, Pāpāpangopuku, to find out how to save the spider world from human proliferation.

This show is performed entirely in te reo Māori using gestures and movement so that non-speakers can follow along and enjoy.

Made with funding from Creative New Zealand, Wellington City Council and Experience Wellington.

Developed with the contributions of Matu Ngaropo, Kura Forrester, Scotty Cotter and Amanda Noblett, from an original concept by Geoff Pinfield, Tānemahuta Gray and Taki Rua Productions. Text copyright © Patricia Grace, 1982. Illustrations copyright © Robyn Kahukiwa, 1982. First published by Puffin Books. This adaptation published is by arrangement with Penguin Random House New Zealand Ltd.