This, the author's not-so-subtle critiques of Monsanto, overfishing, and additional environmental concerns, as well as her humorous pokes at contemporary text message and google culture, render the polylingual play a whimsical yet thought-provoking experience for readers and viewers alike. Staged for the first time in May 2019, the play incorporates several Polynesian legends, history, and literature with contemporary culture: references to the ancient art of the tattoo, to Teuira Henry's Ancient Tahiti (1928), and to the orero (a public speaker, guardian of Polynesian culture) punctuate the narrative. Having secured Ta'aroa's help, Vaihi casts a spell on Hina, ensuring that she forgets all about Maui. Vaihi requests the aid of Ta'aroa, the pan-Polynesian god considered the "architect of the universe," a god with an ancient feud with the ancestors of the twentyfirst-century Maui. Soon, Hina's parents invite the rich, sophisticated Vaihi, the son of a family friend, to dine with them, hoping to distract Hina from Maui. Having spelled "je t'aime" "j-e t-e-m-e" in "text language," he fears they find him uneducated and unworthy of their daughter's affection. The humor in this opening scene is immediately apparent, as Maui agonizes that Hina's parents disapprove of him because he cannot spell correctly.
Divided into five tableaux, each with one or more scenes, the contemporary story begins with Hina and Maui sending each other tender text messages from their respective residences. He then invites readers and audience members to enjoy this good-humored, ironic, sometimes critical but always thoughtful reflection on contemporary local Polynesian and global issues. After reminding the audience of this legend, the conteur ponders how the story might deviate from the original if it were to take place in the twenty-first century.
Disobeying Maui's command to go directly home without breaks, Hina is forced to stay where she has stopped and "plant" the head of the eel, which grows into a beautiful coconut tree.
Hina is tasked with taking the eel's head back to her home, as it contains great treasures. He kills the eel, chopping it into pieces. In an introduction to the primary intrigue, a conteur recounts to the audience la légende du cocotier, one of French Polynesia's most beloved myths, in which the princess Hina is betrothed to the prince of Lake Vaihiria-yet her parents are unaware that this prince is in reality a hideous eel. Inspired by the pan-Polynesian legends of the warrior demigod Maui and Hina, a princess of incomparable beauty, this first play by a professor of French and Francophone literatures at the Université de la Polynésie française adds a contemporary twist to the age-old stories of demigods and goddesses.