SPRING 2026 SEASON AT BASEMENT
Lambs in the paddocks! Daffodils in the fields! Aucklanders squinting into the light like something freshly hatched! The days are stretching, the jackets are shedding, and everyone's group chat is suddenly full of plans again - that's right Tāmaki Makaurau, it must be time for the Basement Spring Season!
And what a season. Artists from across the motu have spent the winter cooking up 15 shows to bring to Greys Ave – six of them world premieres, still warm from the oven – plus all your favourite Basey regulars stacked on top, and the launch of the brand new TEST FEST. That's Spring sorted.
Growing in Basement this Spring:
🎤 A boy band murder mystery musical - yes, all of those words, in that order
🩸 Macbeth as full-blooded horror for Halloween
🐞 Two ladybugs playing their farewell gig before the fumigation
🪩 Dance and EDM collide on one very sweaty stage
🐊 Crocodiles surfacing in a small town where crocodiles do not belong
🕯️ A tangi for a broken relationship with te reo Māori
🚪 A queer Latinx reckoning in 1920s Aotearoa
💰 Eleven heist-film criminals, all played by one (1) man
😼 Cabaret, stand-up and sketch from two of Pōneke's sharpest
🧮 A maths game show for people who hate maths
🌹 Five dancers on sisterhood and staying rooted
🦺 An anti-presentation, anti-arts-market festival
🚗 Two married comedians. One car. Zero survivors
🐟 A fish interrupted by memory
🎙️ Political stand-up coming for the shock jocks
🐇 A dark, absurd, tender play about the state of the world
Horror and heists, ladybugs and reclamation, gags and grief – sometimes all in one week. That's Spring at Basey.
Tickets for most shows on sale now. Bring your people, bring your sunnies, bring whoever's been hibernating since June – we'll handle the rest xx
BASEMENT THEATRE 2026 SPRING SEASON
September
Bug Songs Not Love Songs
1-5 September
"if u are a bug please come to living room wall promptly for our LAST EVER GIG before FUMIGATION. antennae provided. no humans plez."
Mangrove Eaters
8-12 September
In a small town in Aotearoa, children are going missing, and crocodiles have started appearing in the mangroves surrounding the town.
Guido
8-12 September
A dark, physical reckoning of memory, desire, and power.
Oceania's Eleven
15-19 September
Eleven criminals. Eleven egos. All burned by the system, all back for one last score, and all performed by one human man.
Bailey Poching: Doing Great
15-19 September
One of Aotearoa's most exciting comedic voices returns with his critically acclaimed solo show.
Orin Performs Performative Stand-Up Comedy
16-17 September
Taking on comedians like Jimmy Carr, Chris Bishop and Elon Musk, Orin dismantles figures who chase outrage and conflate controversy for substance.
Garithmetic
22-26 September
For too long MATHS has been reserved for smart people. And what have they done with it? Built the economy? Ew!
SHOW OFF: Electric Explicitness
24-26 September
Prepare yourself for a night of deep bass lines matched with original choreography.
Unconquerable
29 September - 3 October
Celebrate 16 years of Hobson Street Theatre Company with an evening of storytelling from their whānau.
October
A Becoming
1-3 October
Join the art of unfolding what it means to be in our world; interrogating the line of definition between spectating and participating.
TEST FEST
7-10 October
Basement's new anti-arts-market arts festival.
Tempo Dance Festival 2026
13-17 October
The Tangihanga of Rob and his Reo
20-24 October
A man is judged in Rarohenga for his broken relationship with te reo Māori, pulled through ritual, absurdity, and shame toward reclamation.
Please Let Me Remain
20-24 October
An intimate exploration of sisterhood through the lens of Aylin Atalay's identity as a Turkish/Pākehā woman.
Scenes from Bedlam
27-31 October
A deeply confronting, dark, funny, unhinged yet tender play about the state of the world and the devilishly absurd times we find ourselves living in.
The Horror of Macbeth
27-31 October
The curtains part and lift the veil. Here lies Macbeth. Hail. Hail. Hail.
November
I Know You, Fish (or Te Conozco Bacalao)
3-7 November
FISH do not have three-second memories, that's a common misconception. In fact, this fish's memory is great… and it's becoming a problem.
SKWERT: The Reunion
3-7 November
It's a Boy Band Murder Mystery Musical!
Driving Me Crazy
4 & 6 November
A no-brakes comedy collision starring real-life married comedy couple Mo Munn and Q Potts.
Full Puss
5 & 7 November
A maximalist alt-comedy cabaret born from the minds of Wellington comics Lily Catastrophe and Keegan Thomas.
ATC Youth Company
16-28 November
Come see the latest production from Auckland Theatre Company's latest crop of emerging performers.
Solus
24-28 November
Two astronauts aboard a space station are tasked with overseeing the terraformation of Mars when they receive a message from home...
