Gather your pals and cosy up - our Winter/Matariki artists are bringing the heat over 3 months across 17 shows.
Artists not paying a cent for venue hire? Why of course!
Choose What You Pay tickets heartily stocked? You betcha.
Midwinter Christmas Festivities? Big juicy tick.
Jumping high and crashing onto your assumptions? Yes, that is me, hi.
Bountiful amounts of giving, learning, and growing? Yes yes yes.
Sharing an unrepeatable moment with 99 strangers? Priceless.
The Basement team felt all the feels putting the finishing touches on this programme, as it is the final work of Nisha Madhan! We think Nisha’s devotion to lifting up artists and her determination to see all types of live performance on the Basement stage really shines through.
PICK-A-PATH - LIVE!
Stop yelling at your TV show when the protagonist made the wrong decision - instead - do it at Basement! These shows have varying levels of audience interaction where you get to be involved.
THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE COMPLETELY MADE UP 6-9 JUNE, This improvised one-woman show by Rhiannon McCall is a hilarious take on the classic Western. Choose What You Pay.
CASTAWAY AIRLINES 30 MAY - 2 JUNE, Welcome to Castaway Airlines, an immersive experience that celebrates the quirks of air travel in an age of cost-cutting companies and customer complaints. In-flight entertainment brought to you by Anthony Crum, Leo Maggs and Jane Wills.
THE BITCHING HOUR27 JUNE - 1 JULY, Your favourite poetry bitches are back. How We Survive Productions presents the poetry reading that swiped right on a late-night talk show. Join your hosts Olivia “The Baby” Hall and Carrie “The Bitch” Rudzinski for a hilarious hour of poems, laughs, and absolute brilliance.
TEA FOR TWO WORLD TOUR 1-5 AUGUST, Looking for that person who is your perfect cup of tea? Tea for Two World Tour is a night for daters hosted by Anahera (Tamara Gussy), Aotearoa’s leading dating expert. Choose What You Pay.
THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE COMPLETELY MADE UP
MIDWINTER CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES
The mulled wine at the bar at these shows will get you absolutely toasty.
A VERY ‘JED PARSONS’ CHRISTMAS 1-4 AUGUST, After successfully converting a Christchurch theatre full of completely unsuspecting indie rock fans into confused Christmas enthusiasts last December, Jed Parsons is confidently bringing his absolutely nonsensical Christmas show to Auckland.
NAUGHTY! A MIDWINTER CHRISTMAS DRAG CABARET 8-19 AUGUST, Celebrate winter with this festive and fierce drag spectacular sure to make the Yuletide gay. Starring Medulla Oblongata, Pinkie Promise & Hugo Grrrl.
NAUGHTY! A MIDWINTER CHRISTMAS DRAG CABARET
LIVE ART: MUSIC EDITION
Music and live art are interwoven in these two gems.
THEIR FEET DID NOT TOUCH THE GROUND 22-24 JUNE, Jazmine Rose Phillip’s live performance influenced by detained refugees imprisoned and all people seeking and deserving freedom.
AN IMPOSTER 29 AUGUST - 2 SEPTEMBER, Ron Gallipoli’s song cycle and a melodrama. In murky circumstances, a psychologist urges a young woman to acknowledge her mother in a shared therapy session. Much is at stake. Featuring Billie Fee, I.e. Crazy, and Sam Bradford. Choose What You Pay.
THEIR FEET DID NOT TOUCH THE GROUND
RAZING EXPECTATIONS
Flattening all your concepts of what live performance should be.
WINE LIPS 30 MAY - 01 JUNE, Back in the Basement Green Room, Sam Brooks’ critically acclaimed play Wine Lips returns for three one-off readings with three different casts. Choose What You Pay.
KAFA 18-22 JULY, Krump meets traditional Tongan tau’olunga in Mosiana Webster aka Nix’s explosive and virtuosic solo, originally created for The Nest: Street Style Solo Dance Festival. Choose What You Pay.
CLAS 103: GREEK MYTHOLOGY6-10 JUNE, Sick & tired of the mundanity of his usual lectures, Livingston has decided that it's time to take the Greeks back to where they were best: Theatre. Written and performed by Vincent Andrew-Scammell. Choose What You Pay.
TAKATĀPUI27 JUNE - 1 JULY, Queer joy and hot rage. Armed with only a microphone, a vocal processor, and a killer pair of heels, antidisciplinary artist Daley Rangi holds a solidary flame in a blistering call to action. Choose What You Pay.
IN 200 MINDS 22-26 AUGUST, A dance show that grapples with the world in its endless conflicting opinions; attempts to be right, to be good. Choreographed and performed by Katie Shaw. Choose What You Pay.
IS THIS ALL THAT YOU HAD IN MIND? 29 AUGUST - 2 SEPTEMBER, An exploration of one of humanities longest running quests - the search for satisfaction. Written and directed by Katie May Harris.
TAKATĀPUI
GUARANTEED JOY, FUN AND CHAOS
HENCHMEN 8-12 AUGUST, Steve and Lou work your average office job: paperwork; upper middle management; trying to look busy while doing as little as possible; intermittent secret agent raids; death rays; regular deliveries of sharks; daily announcements from the Evil Villain Overlord. Written by Amy Wright and directed by Mark Chayanat Whittet.
THE TEMPESTUOUS 13-17 JUNE, Award Winning Comedian Penny Ashton (Promise and Promiscuity, Olive Copperbottom) presents her latest literary solo musical with this world premiere Shakespearean frolic. Choose What You Pay.
MINNIE&JUDY 15-19 AUGUST, From the wicked minds that brought you She’s Crowning, this brand new show is the secret history of two infamous women; Minnie Dean and Judy Garland. Choose What You Pay.
MINNIE&JUDY
MATARIKI
Under the auspicious rising of Matariki, Basement Theatre will again host a four-day wānanga retreat for seven emerging Māori artists. Creating space for connection and rejuvenation, experts in indigenous art forms and body practices will facilitate an array of workshops and experiences, adorning the artists with the taonga of their ancestors.
Throughout the four days, artists will be given the chance to take workshops in such things as Maramataka Māori, Te Tiriti ō Waitangi, Mirimiri, Taonga Puoro sound healing and Māu Rākau. All delivered within a safe space, and without judgement on where our artists are at in their understanding of tikanga and te reo. “It was such an incredible experience, [and the] rōpū held us so incredibly well. The programme itself was beyond anything I could have dreamed up for myself. I learnt so much and reaffirmed my Māoritanga throughout this process.” - 2022 wānanga participant.
Originally led by Jason Te Kare and passed over to Whetu Silver in 2019, Basement’s annual Matariki offering is steeped in the love and generosity of some phenomenal Māori creatives. As always we mihi to those that have carved space for this wānanga to be possible, and stay committed to their intentions of uplifting and nurturing our emerging Māori voices.
