Tēnā koutou! Nau mai haere mai ki te hōtaka Hotoke me Matariki ō Basement Theatre.
The arts may have slowed down to a pace of a hibernating hedgehog over the past two years but artists are back in force and full to the brim with stories to share. And what a fitting moment to return - over the Māori New Year! It’s like it was meant to be right?
Cuddle up to our 2022 Winter/Matariki programme - a season that embraces slow-cooked, melt-in-your-mouth stories that revel in the dark, celebrate the light and remember the
magic of liveness.
ARIA's Live EP release show - Love Songs Till Midnight
It’s been a long time coming to be back together in a theatre, so what better way to start than a series of community faves and live music gigs to help adjust our eyes and ears back to the familiar feeling of being in an audience together. We kick off with one-night-only specials from No Homo: Queer Comedy, a new comedy night from Spanglish mates called The Bench, poetry from Tāmaki’s funniest and finest wordsmiths in Laugh Riot, ARIA's live EP release of Love Songs Till Midnight and an epic new set from Hans. and friends.
The Basement Winter/Matariki season is due in May, and so is She’s Crowning (below). The Crown spinoff you never knew you were waiting for, sees stupidly fabulous Toi Whakaari grads Murdoch Keane and Peter Burman take on Queen Liz and Princess Margaret.
You’ll have plenty of reasons to hold on to one another in the dark with this spooky inspired mini programme of horror treats. HAHA Horror is the latest comedy adventure from Billy T alumni, David Correos & Hamish Parkinson, while The Best Café in the World gives a caffeine fueled Shaun-of-the-Dead-style zombie apocalypse comedy/drama. The horny and haunted Erotica By The Fire comes straight from the filthy minds of Shoshana McCallum, Andrew Munro and Donna Brookbanks, and best played in the dark, Werewolf, is sure to have you throwing your best friend under the bus to survive through the night. Werewolf is based on the popular party game (also known as Mafia) by interactive theatre mavericks Binge Culture Collective. Not for the faint of heart!
She's Crowning
The Theatre is brought to you by fierce femmes with Stories About My Body by Morgana O'Reilly, Hysterical by spoken word queens, Carrie Rudzinski & Olivia Hall and tales of motherhood through song in We’ve Got So Much To Talk About by Sally Stockwell. The femme ferocity goes next level with some of the trailblazers from the Auckland underground vogue scene and alumni from the Pacific Institute of Performing Arts, Sandy Coven-Carangi (aka EMPELESI’I), Jacob Tamata (aka Segeant/Sarj) and Gabriel Halatoa (aka Princess). They take centre stage with a stunning new fusion of spoken word and movement in It’s come to our ATTENTION.
The Studio programme sets the stage for fresh poets Grace Taylor and Lana Lopesi in Moana Writers Open Mic night, contemporary queer stories from Dan Goodwin (Chrome Dome and Schizo) and Joni Nelson (Together Forever), and luscious visuals from emerging theatre maker Emily Hurley (The Judas Sheep).
Rounding out the Studio programme of fresh words from fresh talent is Ana Scotney’s sprawling new marvel, ScatterGun, winner of Outstanding Solo Performance at this year's New Zealand Fringe Festival. It feels fortuitous for us to welcome ScatterGun back to Basement as the seeds for the work were sown right here through our Ideas in Residence programme in 2020.
HAHA Horror
At the heart of Winter at Basement is Matariki. During Matariki, we will offer activities that nurture, and that incite harmony, balance and restoration - wrapping around our people like a warm korowai, protecting them from the cold and filling up their wairua cups before we all venture into the new year. Activities during Matariki include:
✨ A 4-day wānanga that 6 tangata whenua artists will be selected to participate in. Experts in indigenous art forms and body practices will gift their knowledge to these artists through a series of workshops.
✨ Events from some of our motu’s most exciting next-gen Māori artists across comedy and contemporary music.
✨ A week of ‘gifted leave’ following the Matariki public holiday for the Basement staff. This will be an important time for our whānau to rest and recuperate, and set their intentions for the new year ahead.
Stories About My Body
The wait seems like it's been forever for HAU Festival, a collection of new Pasifika and Māori work pulled together by Tuatara Collective in August. Not only has the show been through an indescribable amount of ups and downs, but its director, Jason Te Mete literally fought for his life during this journey. This is bound to be one the most triumphant returns of a treasured community member back to the theatre scene in Auckland, and it is dripping in brown excellence from sparkling rangatahi, rising superstars and, of course, a good old fashioned garage party! Hau Festival is presented as part of Basement’s Co-Pro programme - supported by Creative New Zealand.
We so pleased to offer up space to our community partners Proudly Asian Theatre (PAT). After a series of near misses and cancellations, they are back with a double concentrated season of play readings. Four days of electric new work from Asian writers that continue the formidable legacy PAT has created for themselves.
Winter/Matariki at Basement is anchored by our industry friends, A Slightly Isolated Dog with their brand new take on The Trojan War and Touch Compass with Illegally Blind, the charming solo show from Susan Williams. But to really get the party started, we are over the moon to welcome back the OG dwellers, Silo Theatre to celebrate their 25th anniversary (whaaaaaaat?!) with the sharply tongued seven methods of killing kylie jenner. We are especially chuffed to see Keagan Carr Fransch at the helm as director - Keagan is another Ideas in Residence alumni and part of Basement's treasured Company in Residence, Black Creatives Aotearoa.
Illegally Blind
So that is Winter and Matariki at Basement, full of bright new sparks, milestone moments, and reasons to hold hands in the dark!