The Spinoff’s top picks of events from around the motu.
Wow lucky us, it’s time to kiss the wheelie office chairs goodbye and begin another(!) long weekend. As tempting as I know it is to lean into the phone addiction and do just about nothing, you should make the most of this one. The next public holiday is not until June 2, over a month away and also my birthday. By then, it’s likely to be cold and rainy and everything on this list will have been and gone. I can’t promise to invite everyone to my party, so please, have fun now.
Theatre: Give Way – The Musical
Circa Theatre, 1 Taranaki Street, Te Aro, Wellington
6.30pm Tuesday – Thursday, 8pm Friday – Saturday, 4pm Sunday until May 24
$15 – 60
Musical theatre about a road rule? Written by a Southland postie? The trials and tribulations of a well-meaning bureaucrat against a groundswell of opposition? A romantic sub-plot? Inspired by a Spinoff article? Sounds fabulous.
This show tells the unofficial story behind the 2012 change to New Zealand’s give way rule. Sophie, an idealistic young Ministry of Transport employee, wants to change the world. She starts with the give way rule, thinking that changing it to align with much of the rest of the world will make our roads safer. But, as with all traffic and road issues, people get riled up. An opposition movement mounts. The show is said to be a funny and telling satire of Kiwi attitudes, and won the 2023 McNaughton South Island Play Award.
The Far North
Music: The Tūī and the Kahikatea
Turner Centre Auditorium, 43 Cobham Rd, Kerikeri
4pm Sunday, April 27
$40, free for under 18-year-olds
An eight-movement quartet composed in a prisoner of war camp during the Second World War has been paired with the poetry of Faumuina Felolini Maria Tafuna’i in a celebrated composition by four classical musicians.
Northland
Photography: Whare Ngaro, Ashleigh Zimmerman
Hihiaua Cultural Centre, 56-58 Herekino St, Whangārei
10am – 4pm Tuesday – Thursday, 10am – 3pm Friday – Sunday until May 3
Free
Large scale photographs explore the symbolism of kōkōwai as a provocation of infertility, a broken lineage and with it, an erasure of a tūpuna lineage.
Auckland
Visual art: Rain Talk, Eleanor Cooper
Grace, 59 Pitt St, Auckland CBD
11am – 4pm Friday & Saturday until May 24
Free
A delicate and poetic show with sandy drops on the walls and tiny re-creations of two poets’ seaside houses in the centre. Absolutely beautiful.
Central North Island
Visual art: Small Sculpture Award Exhibition
ArtsPost Galleries, 120 Victoria Street, Hamilton
9am – 5pm Thursday, 9am – 3pm Saturday April 26
Free
So many different and gorgeous small sculptures all in one place! No two are even remotely similar!
Theatre, dance, music: Wairua Paani
Toitoi, 109 Hastings Street South, Eastbourne Corner, Hastings
6:30 – 8:30pm Saturday, April 26
$15 – $35
Celebrate a decade of the Hawke’s Bay Indian Cultural Centre by watching an epic show which promises superb costuming, beautiful dancing, stage combat and kapa haka.
Wellington
Music: Blame It On The Weather Tour, MĀ
Meow, Wellington
8pm Saturday, April 26
$25
Join MĀ for the final show of her nationwide tour. The vocalist and producer makes music that is heartfelt and immersive by combining singing, spoken word, rap, field recordings, soul, trip hop grooves and more.
Nelson
Jewellery: Materialise by Handshake Project
Refinery ArtSpace, 114 Hardy Street, Nelson
10am – 5pm Monday to Friday, 10am – 2pm Saturday until May 10
Free
The result of putting jewellers through a two-year programme that encourages experimentation, feedback and development.
Christchurch
Music: Marsha single release
darkroom, 336 Saint Asaph Street, Christchurch Central
8pm Friday, April 25
$15
The local post-punk band Marsha are known for noisy yet detailed songs. They will be joined by Velveteen and This Dog.
West Coast
Music: West Coast Breakz
Punakaiki Rocks Hotel, 13 Owen Street, Punakaiki
6pm Saturday, April 26
$55
If you ever wanted to dance all night then go look at Punakaiki/Pancake Rocks with a torch while monged this might be your only chance.
Southland
Visual art: Tuituia | Something is Happening Here, Robin White
Eastern Southland Gallery, 14 Hokonui Drive, Gore
10am – 4.30pm Monday to Friday, 1– 4pm weekends and public holidays until April 27
Free
See iconic paintings that have shaped what we think of as New Zealand landscapes.
See yas next week, and don’t forget to tell me about cool things happening in your area!
