Tēnā koutou! Nau mai haere mai ki te hōtaka Hotoke me hōtaka Matariki ō Basement Theatre. Welcome to the 2025 Winter/Matariki season at Basement Theatre - a season of warm incubation, idea exploration and embracing our unique togetherness.
This year’s national theme for Matariki - Matariki mā Puanga - is about celebrating diversity and Matariki together. This speaks to us as it cosies up nicely with our own value of Wildly Connecting. Basement Theatre being a facilitator for Aotearoa’s artistic communities to come together is one of our drivers, and a core way we can bring about positive social change.
Our Winter/Matariki programme sees this kaupapa in full swing within our jam-packed season, communities of artists and audiences from across the motu and artforms all coming together under the one roof.
One week in July, we see William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar performed by only two performers upstairs and also a 7th-century Sanskrit farce happening downstairs.
In another week, we’ll have a new play from Pōneke matched up with a return season from Tāmaki.
And in the final week of the season, a dance show confronts individual and shared taniwha while a theatre solo confronts grief as it descends into chaos.
Basement Theatre’s Winter/Matariki season gives us all a moment to be in the moment, to acknowledge those who have come before and for us to dream of futures together. We can’t wait to experience this with you x
BASEMENT THEATRE WINTER/MATARIKI SEASON - 03 June - 30 August
June
SNART, 03-07 June, Blending screen and stage Luka Piripi presents an honest look at a character with a narcissistic personality.
F.O.L.A. - [AKL] (Festival of Live Art - Auckland), 11-14 June, a space for Experimental and Live Art by the misfits, punks and menaces of the world in Tāmaki Makaurau.
HAU Festival [te Hī me te Hā], 17-28 June, Tuatara Collective will present new and original indigenous, Māori, Pasifika and LGBTQi+ stories with songs, dance and text celebrating the movement of the atmosphere, the winds of change and the shifting vibrations of energy and light.
July
F*** Art, 01-05 July, Time Shivers presents a poetry-based variety show exploring the seductive grip of addiction.
Therapy: A Musical Comedy, 08-12 July, Good for Her Productions presents a one (and a half) woman musical following a woman's visits to therapy with the hope of a quick fix for dizzy-spells
The Ballad of Briar Grant, 15-19 July, Squash Co Arts Collective present a new dramedy by Jack McGee about two very sad divas taking it out on one another amongst the apple trees.
How to Art - Fundraiser Season, 17-19 July, Winner of the NZ Fringe ‘Melbourne Fringe Tour Ready Award’ 2025, How to Art presented by Ratbags returns.
William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, 22-26 July, After sellout shows around Te Waipounamu, JMO Theatrics presents just two actors performing Shakespeare's most celebrated history play.
Ranggheli: The Bhavai Saga..., 22-26 July, Sacred meets scandal in this fearless Gujarati folk theatre experience presented by Gujarati Sahitya Mandal (NZ) Inc.
HuMan Lessons, 29 July - 2 August, For nearly a decade, feature-length documentary Man Lessons has been in production following Adam Rohe’s gender transition. Now, Adam (he/they) steps into the driver’s seat of the storytelling, combining intimate documentary footage with live storytelling to bring you a wild, earnest behind-the-scenes.
My AI Twin, 29 July - 2 August, Xan, an elected councillor to local government, is making a bid for the mayoralty of her city. Overwhelmed by the demands of campaigning in a world dominated by social media she decides to use an AI twin as an online physical presence to connect with more people. Presented by Jamshed.
August
Tafatolu, 12-16 August, Nikeidrian Lologa-Peters presents a visceral, musical, and physical adaptation of the stories passed down from our tupuna, tuaā, and fanga-kui. Stories born from Pasifika mythology inspired by the traditional Samoan theatre style of fale aitu.
Guido [playreading], 13 August, A Mexican farmer, a Brazilian milkman, an arranged marriage, a Homestead on the hills of Twizel.
MOTHER IS A DAUGHTER IS A MOTHER, 14-16 August, Explores the outside concepts of Motherhood and Art. Prepare to be cradled, confronted and confused. Presented by Brick Haus Productions.
Strawberry Baby, 19-23 August, Fiona Saunders presents a bold, camp, and colourful solo dance work exploring beauty standards, neurodivergence, and queerness through movement, humour, and expressive design.
Decadunce, 21-23 August, The award-winning comedian Marshall Lorenzo (Canada’s Drag Race) is back with a brand new sketch comedy extravaganza.
E ngaro ana koe?, 26-30 August, Ella Rerekura presents a full-length multimedia dance work that questions: How do we break bread with our taniwha?
May Mga Uod Ang Utak Mo (There Are Worms in Your Brain), 28-30 August, Grief gives birth to chaos as Sean Dioneda Rivera tries to wrestle with his father’s death — again and again and again and again and again. Literally. Presented by Punctum Productions.
