This weekend we want to go to . . .
ASB Waterfront Theatre
Truth, they say, is stranger than fiction and it doesn’t come much stranger than Six Degrees of
Separation. In the late 1980s and early 90s i.e. before it was easy to look things — people — up on Google or social media, a charming young man swept into the lives of wealthy and sophisticated Manhattanites claiming to be the son of actor Sidney Poitier. Long story short, he wasn’t and they got fleeced. It became an award-winning play and now the satire of class and race relations is in Auckland with some of our most respected performers playing the great and the good whose comfortable and respectable world(s) were turned upside down. Six Degrees of Separation, ASB Waterfront Theatre, until Friday, August 30
Basement Theatre
Who doesn’t want for a little more self-belief? Okay, possibly not the guy Six Degrees of Separation is based on but, from time to time, most of us lack a little in the confidence department. Even “some of New Zealand’s finest theatrical talent” like Victoria Abbott (who plucked up enough courage to make her own show, Run Rabbit), Angella Dravid (who’s a Billy T Award Winner) and Hamish Parkinson (who made everyone laugh in Hunt for the
Wilderpeople and is also a Billy T Award Winner). They’ve joined forces with a host of other creatives to appear in Alex MacDonald’s debut play which has an unprepossessing name, but is actually about hope and written as a love letter to anyone who could do with backing themselves a little more. Sicko, Basement Theatre, until Saturday, August 17.
Auckland Town Hall
Expect to hear a lot more about Beethoven in the next few months. Why? Because next year is the 250th anniversary of his birth and he remains widely celebrated as one of the greatest composers of all time, pivotal in the transition from the classical to the romantic era. NZ Symphony Orchestra’s music director Edo De Waart is one of the foremost authorities on Beethoven and he’s decided to start the birthday bash early. The NZSO’s Beethoven Festival begins with symphonies one, two and three. The festival spans two weekends on Fridays and Saturdays because there’s around seven hours of music in all nine symphonies — musicians can only play for so long and audiences would be challenged by having to hear them all in one hit. New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven Festival, Auckland Town Hall, Friday & Saturday August 16 & 17 then August 23 & 24.
Civic Cinema
The NZSO might rightly be taking its time with the Beethoven Festival, but the same cannot be said of those who, each year, take part in the country’s largest film-making competition. Since its start in 2003, 48 Hours has mushroomed as creators take up the challenge of shooting a short film in just one weekend. Not only do they have a very limited window of time to make their movie, they don’t know what the genre will be until the start of the competition. This year’s shoot weekend was in June; now it’s time to see the results — or, at least, the best ones — when the top 18 films, from across the country and as chosen by national and international judges, screen. It’s a marathon — four hours with no interval. 48 Hours Grand Final, Civic Theatre, Saturday.