Gorgeous Madonna Malaeulu is our geisha-like narrator on the journey through the kooky mix of U Got Bush! by the Bush collective.  We’re not talking George W. here, nor any kind of tree. The three shows that make up U Got Bush! – Mammalian Love, Speedmating for Native Girls, The Randa Maz Chat Show – are all defined by sex: "Cock" (in particular), sex-change ops, chemicals, G-strings, incest, and finally, bush hair. Free plastic razors and lollipops a la bad porno are available when you pick up your ticket.

But it’s all just a bit of fun, really, and there are some great Bush! moments that pack a good, hilarious kick.  All three writers – Leilani Unasa, Maraea Rakuraku and Fiona Truelove – focus, and by and large successfully so, on the power of shock value, nakedness, and dirty language in their quest to write a twenty minute piece with the phrase "you got bush." 

Maraea Rakuraku goes further in Speedmating for Native Girls, the real highlight of the Bush! trio, by working in some beautiful political commentary.  At last, a Neo-Māori on stage! The tiaha welding whiteman, "Freedom From Whiteman’s Oppression" (Todd Rippon) has brilliantly mocking attire (thanks to Zoe Hainge), post-colonial colonial monologues and terrible Te Reo. His sort-of South African accent isn’t explained though, and we’re left crudely guessing at the inferences there.

Rakuraku, who also stars in the piece as "Carmen", is a natural and confident performer and her calm manner complements the hyper-activity of "Mimi" (Melisha Isa’ako), her co-dating/mating star. Isa’ako is vibrant and appealing but may need to work on her enunciation a little more if she wants us to understand her. 

Mammalian Love is an adventurous piece that brings us an invertebrate point of view on the ‘disgusting chemical sex’ activities of humans.  Crude dominatrix/ g-string wearing couple "Celeste" (Sophia Elisabeth) and "Barry" (Todd Rippon) provide rich fodder for a pair of praying mantises (gutsy and astute Melissa Phillips and bouncy Melisha Isa’ako) and cockroaches (delightfully wacky Nicole Steven and wonderfully deadpan Vincent Wong) who cannot work out why humans engage in coitus — but are soon ‘consumed’ by their own mating rituals. What happens to the cockroach couple is not entirely clear however, and their story seems somewhat tangential.

It’s called The Randa Maz Chat Show but the show host is actually "Doprah," (Sophia Elisabeth again) who is actually an alien (possibly) or at least knows that aliens are watching her.  It’s unclear whether everyone knows they are being watched by aliens, or just Doprah. The characters in Randa Maz are more type drawn than the other shows’ and it seems as though writer Fiona Truelove has slightly lost the plot – or lost sight of what the audience needs to know about the plot.  There is an element of Young and Hungry excitability and meandering to the work and I am delighted by the aptness of my discovery that Truelove is involved in that series this year as well. 

In all three of these odd-ball skits the actors do a fabulous job with material that is variously unforgiving and yielding; and they provide some favourite moments. It’s a big cast and the whole Bush! is held together nicely by our geisha, is lit beautifully (Jen Lal) and is fresh and bushy, as promised; even if there are some stray hairs and two of the three pieces could do with a good shape and trim. Possibly even a Brazilian, in the case of Randa Maz… but let’s not go there.  
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