The Liberal Agenda - Basement Theatre Auckland

Kia ora Basement whānau,Nau mai haere mai ki te hui ahurei me te pāti i tēnei wiki!

Experience the breath of bold new voices at HAU Festival and join us this week and next for TĀNE RORE, a powerful theatre celebration of haka, dance, poetry, and Indigenous storytelling that will stir your spirit and shift your soul.

Come watch chaos, quick wit, and corporate cringe collide in Don’t Quit Your Day Job, a fast-paced, laugh-out-loud game show where comedians challenge each other for the ultimate title: Employee of the Month.

Celebrate Matariki with good vibes, live jams, and fierce wahine energy at GARAGE PARTY, a free night of Māori and Pasifika music, kai, and inu to welcome the Māori New Year.

Mā te wā,
Basement Theatre x

HAU Festival: Tāne Rore
17 – 21 June, 6:30pm/8pm. Theatre.TĀNE RORE is a devised, bilingual theatre extravaganza that features singing, dance, haka and authentic storytelling through text (monologue and poetry) featuring BIPOC male-identifying performers. Scattered with songs, dance (contemporary, hip-hop, Pasifika) and haka elements, Basement audiences are in for a powerful and moving experience celebrating the Māori atua (deity) of performing arts.This is the ‘brother-show’ of HINE-TE-RĒHIA presented in 2022, and at BATS Wellington last year.

Please note that the 20th June performance starts at 6.30PM.

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Don’t Quit Your Day Job
19 June, 8.30pm. Studio. Choose What You Pay.Which comedian can cut a job in the “real-world”?There’s plenty of people who will say ‘comedy isn’t a “real job”’ but this is the only show which tests comedians to see if they’re capable of doing anything else. Through a series of quizzes and improv situations all based around one area of work, each comic will be vying to see who can walk away with the Champions title of “Employee of the Month”.

Hoani Hotene hosts, while two teams of comedians know their knowledge and improv skills to show that they’re more than just punchlines and the rule of threes. If you enjoy shows like QI and Thank God You’re Here this is the show for you!

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HAU Festival: Garage Party
20 June, 8pm. Theatre.MATARIKI: 20 June (FREE EVENT)GARAGE PARTY presents an incredible all-female, all-rainbow line-up of Māori and Pasifika musicians performing throughout the night at this free event at the Basement. This is an old-school jam session, join us for some sumptuous Māori-inspired kai, and a couple of inu’s as we welcome in the Māori New Year.

Featuring Daughters of Ally (Jessie & Georgina Matthews), Liana Frangipani, DJ Ayesha and Bonnie Hurunui from White Chapel Jak.

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HAU Festival: SURVIVE
24-28 June, 7pm. Theatre.SURVIVE features three solo performances by queer Aotearoa artists, each delving into themes of identity, authenticity, and navigating the trials and triumphs of a life within the diverse LGBTQiA2+ spectrum.These shows* include:

– ESCAPING, a gay exposé about living, loving, losing and learning. Written and performed by Adam Burrell. A development season of this show was presented at BATS Wellington in April.

– PRAY, a gay exposé about faith, fa’ataupati, fellas and fellatio. Written and performed by Vincent Farane.

– LADY SINGS THE OOO’S, a gay exposé with oooh’s and aaah’s, and ew’s and nah’s. Written and performed by Nanu Turner-Sarah.

*1 ticket gains entry to all 3 shows

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Live Reel: Red-Pill No-Spoon
25 June, 8.30pm. Studio.This month Live Reel offers you two choices. Take the blue pill and stay home doom-scrolling. Take the red pill – and witness six comedians attempt to recreate a feature-length movie from memory live onstage in 75 minutes.Choose wisely. The Arts are in jeopardy.

This June Live Reel presents Red-Pill No-Spoon – a completely improvised and misremembered retelling of the sci-fi classic The Matrix by people who recall loving it 25 years ago and some people who will watch it for the first time the night before.

Will there be bullet time? Will a bald child say ‘there is no spoon?’ Will we figure out what The Architect was on about? It completely depends if our cast can remember. And if they don’t, hopefully we will have a metal neck rod on the side of stage they can jam into their spines to download the plot directly into their brains. And also Kung Fu.

Join us on June 25 – No script, no rehearsal, no spoons. Just one glitchy night of comedy.

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Bull Rush
27 June, 10pm. Studio.No Friday night will ever be the same again.With a roster of Tāmaki Makaurau’s best and brightest performers, expect spit-take- worthy gags, epic stories, heartbreaking tales, and live improvised music at Bull Rush.

So gather your mates for a night of never before seen, totally made up, improvised comedy every Rāmere Friday.

Mess with the bull, feel the rush.

Since 2020, Bull Rush have been making it up as they go. With several seasons (Jingle Bull(Rush), Ghoul Rush, 1822) under their belt, these self-professed improv nerds know how to put on a bloody good show.

Winners of Best Improv Group at the 2024 NZ Comedy Guild Awards, among other accolades (not to brag.

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F.ART!
01 – 05 July, 6.30pm. Studio. Choose What You Pay.YOU’RE INVITED TO BAIN’S THREE-YEAR INTERVENTION ANNIVERSARY!Come one, come all
You are invited
Dress your best
And get excited

There’ll be poems
Raro and laughter
You may not want to see me
After

Come all, come none
Come and see
The angel of sobriety

And raise a toast
With empty glass
To lies that died
And dreams that passed

F.ART! is a poetry-based variety show, exploring the seductive grip of addiction. Ben is desperate to reclaim a happy, healthy life. The chaotic cowboy Shane, fully immersed in the lifestyle Ben is trying to escape, does everything to change his mind. Their clash forms a spectacle of poems, arguments, shanties, and (un)professional wrestling, as they confront their conflicting approaches to addiction and art.

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How can I support Basement Theatre? Donations help us keep advocating for artists. Becoming a Basement Lover or a Basement Mate is the best way you can continually support us – and you get some bonus treats too!