This weekend we want to go to . . . Power Station
Q Theatre
What do Pax Assadi, Danielle Cormack, Kura Forrester, Robbie Magasiva and Tom Sainsbury have in common? Other than the fact they’re all performers, they’re about to go on a blind date. In front of whoever turns up to Q Theatre to witness it. Five years after its first sell-out Auckland season, Silo Theatre brings back the smash hit The Blind Date Project because, in just that small window of time, the dating scene has changed plus audiences couldn’t get enough of the unscripted and largely unrehearsed comedy the first time round. So, serial dater Anna (Natalie Medlock) is back on the market and looking for love in all the wrong places. Each night, she meets a new blind date, played by a different performer, and each one a surprise to her. And us.
The Blind Date Project, Loft at Q Theatre, until Saturday, September 21.
As (possible) dating disasters keep audiences upstairs at Q amused, there’s also laughs to be had in its main theatre, Rangatira. Billy T award-winning comedian Kura Forrester is back for one night only with her sell-out Kura Shoulda Woulda. Inspired by her recent history, Forrester shares some of her more recent experiences — good and not — in a show we reviewed and described as “simply a dazzling, engaging comedian delivering something simple but deeply, hilariously effective”. Kura Shoulda Woulda, Rangatira at
Q Theatre, Saturday.
KRd
Flying Nun’s annual The Others Way festival takes off around the K’ Road precinct tomorrow, with a typically eclectic host of mostly homegrown alternative heroes. The Chills, Blam Blam Blam and Straitjacket Fits are among a monster line-up across a dozen venues. We’re also excited about hip hop duo Church & AP and indie darlings Tiny Ruins. Things get under way with an all-ages stage at the Pitt Street Sunday School with the rest of the venues kicking off at 7.45pm. Punters are free to move between venues — providing they’ve got their all-important wristband. The Others Way Festival, venues For a band that’s known as “seminal shoegaze legends” — it’s when members are, more or less, motionless as they perform, preferring to look down and concentrate on the sound rather than frenetic onstage action — Ride have earned some pretty mega reviews (“hypnotising live”). Now, the band — Andy Bell, Mark Gardener, Loz Colbert and Steve Queralt — have returned downunder for their first headline tour in 25 years, in support of sixth studio album This is Not a
Safe Place. Listening to Ride’s earlier singles is like taking a pleasant trip back to the late 1980s/early 90s when the world seemed like a kinder and more hopeful place, so it could be just the ticket for an August evening.
Ride, Power Station, tonight.
Aldous Harding’s career trajectory means home visits are rare these days. This weekend she plays her first headline shows in New Zealand for more than a year to support latest album Designer (5 stars — TimeOut). She plays at the Powerstation on Saturday and Sunday. We’re lucky to get the chance to see her in relatively intimate venues — she had a run of festival slots during the northern summer, and next is a long run of dates in North America and Europe that will last almost until Christmas. Aldous Harding, Power Station, Saturday, Sunday.
ASB Theatre, Aotea Centre
There can’t be too many occasions when a much-loved NZ author and illustrator and a world-renowned historic composer are brought together in a contemporary show for the whole family but the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra has managed it. Donovan Bixley, who wrote the literary (and very funny) picture book Mozart: The Man Behind
the Music narrates a concert as guest artists and the APO play some of Mozart’s loveliest music. Classical concerts can be a bit serious; this one’s guaranteeing quirky costumes, ornate wigs and maybe even a lewd joke or two. Music includes Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto, Symphony No.40 and excerpts from his operas Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro and
The Magic Flute while Bixley’s awesome illustrations will be projected on screen. Amazing Mr Mozart, ASB Theatre, Aotea Centre, Sunday at 2pm.