Winter/Matariki 2026 season at Basement
Artists from across the motu are aligning this Winter/Matariki season at Basement Theatre to give us all a much-needed dose of what’s good in the world - Live connections! Creation! Joy! Exploration! Artistry! Humanity! Community! Say it again… COMMUNITY!!!!
22 shows are on the bill this Winter/Matariki season, 2 June to 29 August. What can you expect to see?
⭐ Vital conversations and wicked fun parties from the multiple communities that call Basement home
⭐ Cosy and celebratory poetry evenings
⭐ The 16th anniversary show from award-winning Hobson Street Theatre Company
⭐ Crack-up comedy and improv
⭐ Unearthed plays and artistic deepcuts
⭐ A bold remount of an Irish classic
⭐ Energising street and interdisciplinary dance works
⭐ Award-winning Fringe Fest works and makers
⭐ Gen Alpha making their Basey debut
⭐ Political clowning
⭐ Artform shifters and tastemakers
⭐ New plays and solos from emerging talent
You can count on Basement to keep glowing every week over Winter/Matariki. We’ll see you and your people together at Basey xx
BASEMENT THEATRE 2026 WINTER/MATARIKI SEASON - 2 June - 29 August
June
Unconquerable, 2-6 June, Celebrate 16 years of Hobson Street Theatre Company with an evening of storytelling from their whānau.
Disco Pigs, 9-13 June, Enda Walsh's Irish cult classic Disco Pigs follows the characters Pig and Runt, who have been inseparable since birth.
Yellow Lamp Poetry: Vol. Basement, 11-13 June, Each evening, three different poets are showcased, along with a short, cosy open mic. Come and celebrate poetry and community with hosts Ash Raymond James and Sarah Krieg.
Step into the Fire, 16-17 June, Watch as ten spunky high schoolers step into the theatre world, performing 45 minutes of improv.
Babyface, 18-20 June, From award-winning writer and performer Nick Tipa (Kāi Tahu), and with dramaturgy by Late Bloomers co-founder Bronwyn Wallace, comes Babyface, a solo play about big-time wrestling and small-town Aotearoa.
Firing the Canon: Act Two, 23-27 June, A series that revisits the best of Aotearoa's theatre canon to reintroduce artists and audiences to landmark works that forged pathways and laid foundations for the form today. Presented by Smoke Labours Productions.
Mic Drop, 23-27 June, Meet Amir, Jarred and Mattiu. Together, they take on after-school rap battles and spit bars that bring them closer to proving they've got what it takes. However, when an unexpected challenge arises, the boys must find a way to work together and take on a challenge more significant than themselves. Presented by Claw Collective, a Wellington-based arts collective comprised of recent graduating students from Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School.
Oranges, 30 June - 4 July, Clementine has been working at the checkouts since the dawn of time. Every day of the past 12 years of her life has been the same - she clocks in, scans groceries, goes for her break, scans more groceries and then clocks out. But when her co-worker gets into an argument and doesn’t return from the office, she’s forced to break from this routine and journey into the depths of the supermarket, into bathrooms and back rooms, only to find out that the produce she’s been selling is not what it seems. Presented by Biscuit Tin.
July
Collision, 2-4 July, Witness six different street dancers each night, not knowing their prompt till moments before, face on the dance floor, and watch the freestyle magic ensue.
Nature Brain, 14-18 July, Through the absurdity and delight of theatre, Georgia Pringle is looking for answers and explanations for why we behave the way we do by looking to the natural world around us.
Honey Kaha Returns, 14-18 July, Step inside the world of Honey Kaha as cast and crew reunite to unveil new stories, revisit unfinished business, and present a legendary lost adventure finally brought to life on the stage...
WOOOF ! 21-25 July, Written by award-winning Wellington playwright Micky Delahunty for musician and actor Jono Weston, WOOOF is the solo comedy of Sam’s attempt at spiritual wisdom, while being very much a human work-in-progress!
James Roque: Mano Po, 23-24 July, The Kiwi-Pinoy Comedy Boy is back, and hitting the road for his first-ever world tour with a brand new show. Presented by The Push.
Single-Handed, 28 July - 1 August, Single Handed brings you a collection of solo theatre works created by the UNITEC third-year acting cohort, digging into the grit and chaos of being alive right now.
Ngaro/Ertach, 30 July - 1 August, An interdisciplinary dance show that reimagines ritual traditions of belonging to reconcile the dismemberment from ancestral bodies of land. Presented by Ehetere Rua and Triple Violet Arts.
August
On Purpose, 4-8 August, Three wanderers are stuck in a rut. They’ve been trying and failing to write a sketch show for... ever? Caught in a loop of chaos and creation. But can they escape? And how? And if they do escape… where will they go? Heaven? Hell? Your place? Presented by TIME SHIVERS!
El Diván, 6-8 August, El Diván is a theatre production framed as a therapy session — as serious as it is suspicious — exploring migration, identity, and what we carry when building a life far from where we began. A comedy show by Laenye Productions, with Matías Avaca and Daniel Fernández.
Memory of a Honey Bee, 11-15 August, Connor Magatogia and Katherine Dewar debut their first collaborative devised work, weaving shared experiences of love and loss through performance, poetry, and live music.
Hood For Sale, 11-15 August.
The Meeting, 25-29 August, A one-woman comedic farce that brings our current political climate in Aotearoa to life with witty dialogue and laughter. Presented by Lola Productions.
Exquisite Corpse, 28 August.
The Ruckus, 29 August, A DIY fantasy nerd punk show. Every gig, a new line-up of three performers play a role-playing game (kinda like a very loose D&D), with a bunch of randomised elements decided by dice rolls while a live band plays an improvised soundtrack.
