Joel Te Teira’s Back to Te Maunga is a quietly powerful piece of theatre that sits with friendship, grief and forgiveness in a way that feels both intimate and culturally resonant. Directed with an assured and sensitive hand by Keegan Bragg, the production unfolds inside a modest hunter’s cabin, yet the emotional landscape it explores is vast.
The premise is simple but evocative: Tāne and Isaac return to a rural cabin in Aotearoa, New Zealand, a place tied to their youth and to the memory of a friend whose passing they commemorate each year. Their intention is familiar—they drink, sing and reminisce – but the looming presence of the Maunga casts a long shadow over their gathering.
In te ao Māori, a maunga is more than a mountain; it holds deep cultural and spiritual significance. Here it becomes a silent witness to the men’s shared past and the truths they have long avoided.
Joe Dekkers-Reihana as Tāne and Jordan Selwyn as Isaac deliver beautifully natural performances that anchor the play. Their chemistry is immediately convincing: the rhythms of old friendship are captured through affectionate ribbing, casual shorthand and bursts of laughter that feel genuinely lived-in.
The script gives them plenty of comic banter, moments that land with easy charm, that reminds us that deep friendships are often built on humour as much as shared pain. Yet beneath that humour, the play hums with unresolved history. As the night deepens, the cracks begin to show.
Te Teira’s writing allows the tension to rise gradually, revealing grief not as a singular event but as something that ripples through years of silence, guilt and misunderstanding. When the emotional truths finally surface, they do so with a quiet inevitability rather than melodrama.
The production’s design plays a vital role in grounding the story’s atmosphere. Zoë Rouse has created a beautifully detailed interior of a rustic cabin that feels authentically worn-in, while Harrie Hogan uses warm, shifting light to suggest both the intimacy of the cabin and the unseen presence of the Maunga outside. Ethan Hunter’s ambient sound design completes the environment, immediately placing us in the landscape of Aotearoa.
Even the physicality of the production is thoughtfully realised. Lyndall Grant’s fight choreography, incorporating elements of Mau rākau (with Cam Tītokowaru Venn consulting), punctuates the play with bursts of raw physical emotion, reminding us that some conflicts between friends are as visceral as they are verbal.
What makes Back to Te Maunga particularly compelling is its understanding of male friendship. The play examines how men carry grief, how loyalty can coexist with resentment, and how forgiveness often requires confronting truths long buried.
Back to Te Maunga is a moving and finely crafted piece of theatre – one that reminds us that returning to the places of our past can be painful, necessary, and sometimes the only way forward.
Images: Jordan Selwyn as Isaac and Joe Dekkers-Reihana as Tāne in Back to Te Maunga – photos by Darren Gill
Review: Rohan Shearn