Basement Theatre Presents a New Decade of Ground Breaking Live Performance

A brand new decade at Basement Theatre begins this week with an absolutely packed Pride, Fringe and Summer 2020 programme of groundbreaking, vital and exhilarating live performance. Inspired by something that society needs now more than ever – disruption, Basement Theatre Programming Co-ordinator (and one of Tāmaki Makaurau’s most disruptive artists) says:

“At Basement, we love the artists who riot. Whether it be a mutiny through joy, tears, rage or laughter, our space has always inspired a kind of lawlessness and troublemaking. In 2020, we’ve thrown away the stop signs and given the keys to dad’s car to a new decade of artistic dismantlers.”

The season kicks off with two world premiere works for Auckland Pride Festival – PERFECT SHADE and TAKE THE CROWN. PERFECT SHADE (developed through Basement’s Ideas in Residence development initiative) is the first solo show from performance artist Sarita Das, inviting you to a non-linear amalgamation of colourism and privilege. The Others Club’s TAKE THE CROWN by Todd Waters is a queer celebration filled with pop hits and public call outs.

Next up is Auckland Fringe Festival. Each year, Basement’s Fringe programme features a provocation for artists in the Studio space, and this year’s theme is Duration. Five four-hour works will each be performed for one night only, tackling topics like the monotony of infomercials, the power of saying sorry, new perspectives on housecleaning and fat shaming in a meditative contemplation performed in a bath filled with jelly.

Downstairs in the Theatre, Basement’s Fringe programme features Gemishka Chetty and Aiwa Pooamorn’s look at misrepresentation of pan-Asian women in pop culture with HAVE YOU EVER BEEN WITH AN ASIAN WOMXN?, high-profile New Zealand sisters Sarah and Catherine Delahunty taking a sharp feminist look back at their lives through storytelling in #USTWO, and Fringe favourite improv troupe Heartthrobs (MACKENZIE’S DAUGHTERS, SALEM B*TCH TRIALS) doing a parody of TV’s guilty pleasure Love Island in LUST ISLAND.

Highlights from the rest of Basement’s Summer Season include: award-winning artist Alice Canton’s YEAR OF THE TIGER – part live-doco and part social practice, it celebrates intergenerational connection through a group of strangers each born in the Year of the Tiger. Adapted by Eli Kent and Oliver Driver from Alain de Botton’s iconic novel, ESSAYS IN LOVE is a theatrical world premiere that puts love under the philosophical microscope. In OUR MODERN EARTH (IS A F*CKING MESS), Amber Liberté tackles the most vital threat in our world right now – climate change. Picked from last year’s Kia Mau Festival, Wellington actor Sarita So presents a re-working of her 20 year old Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School solo, DIGGING TO CAMBODIA. And, PEEP AND SQUEAK arrives in the April school holidays with a magical experience for the whole family.

That’s just a sample of what to expect in a Summer of disruption at Basement Theatre. For the full season line-up, visit basementtheatre.co.nz.

Basement Theatre is Auckland’s culture-defining powerhouse – home to an artistic mixtape of the performing arts since 2008. The venue showcases new and local voices, featuring 80% world premieres and over 50% New Zealand work in its programme. The Basement’s unique risk-share model supports emerging artists by reducing their financial risk, taking a percentage of box office sales in lieu of a venue hireage fee. As a charitable trust, all profits go into running the venue and supporting artists through our development programmes. In a world where everything is downloadable, The Basement is the place to see something live.

“Since it opened in 2008, Basement has changed the way theatre is made in this country.” – NZ Herald

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