Events in Wellington this weekend and beyond
Thursday, 20 February 2025
Paniyiri Greek Food Festival
Greek Orthodox Church and Cultural Centre, Hania St, Feb 22, 10am-3pm, free admission
Escape to Greece for the day! Join us for great food, live music and dancing. Enjoy kalamari, souvlaki, baklava, and more – and really experience a taste of Greece and Cyprus. We proudly showcase our culture, foods, music and how we have fun. See you at our home in Hania St, Mt Victoria.
Abridged-erton
BATS Theatre, to Feb 22, 7.35pm, $15-$40
Dearest Gentle Reader, The time has come to immerse yourself in the most scandalous affair of the season - Abridged-erton, a long-form improvised comedy show inspired by the hit TV series. Tickets: bats.co.nz
Tutus on Tour
Te Raukura ki Kāpiti, Feb 21-22, 1.30pm and 7pm
The Royal New Zealand Ballet’s (RNZB) Tutus on Tour marks the start of a brand-new year of ballet. Dance lovers will be able to experience two show-stopping classical duets plus contemporary works. Tickets: eventfnda
Nobuya Sugawa
Old St Paul’s, Feb 21, 7.30pm, $20-$50
Saxophonist Nobuya Sugawa, whose stellar career has established him as a prominent figure worldwide, will perform along with Akari sax 4tet and pianist Minako Koyanagi. Tickets: humanitix
Orientation 2025: Next is Now
The Great Hall – Dominion Museum Building, Massey University, Feb 21-22, 6.30pm, $40-$70
Attend an unforgettable experience with two spectacular gigs featuring musicians who studied at Massey and now perform nationally and internationally. Open to all students and the general public. Tickets: massey.ac.nz
NZ Fringe Festival 2025
Various venues, to March 8
NZ Fringe 2025 celebrates 35 years of pushing artistic boundaries and bringing innovative performances to Wellington. For three weeks the city will come alive with a vibrant mix of theatre, music, dance, comedy, and immersive experiences. Info and tickets: fringe.co.nz
Laughs On Tour presents Saturday Laughs
Abandoned Taproom Petone, Feb 22, Mar 1
Join some of comedy's biggest names, and brightest newcomers for Saturday Laughs in Petone. Featuring the likes of Hayley Sproull, Ben Hurley, Alan McElroy and more. Tickets: fringe.co.nz
Summer Hummer 2025
Queen Elizabeth Park, Dixon St, Feb 22, 1:30pm - 7:30pm
Bring the family to Queen Elizabeth Park for outdoor fun and catch live music at the Summer Hummer featuring Cassie Henderson, The Dead Zephyrs, and Broderbets among many more bands. Reserve your $2 ticket on Eventfinda.
Capital Reeds
Bicycle Junction, 1 Marion St, Feb 22, 4:30pm and 7pm, $18
A concert of original chamber music for oboe, clarinet and bassoon, including some trios for the even more unfamiliar combination of contrabassoon, bass clarinet and cor anglais. Tickets: fringe.co.nz
Death Ray
BATS - The Dome, to Feb 22, 8.30pm, $15-$25
Aotearoa, 1935. Under a veil of government secrecy, an inventor is taken to Matiu Somes Island to build a death ray. This is his story. Well, maybe it is. Tickets: bats.co.nz
Edit the Sad Parts: Staged Play Reading
Circa, Feb 22, 2pm, $20-$25
In Jack McGee’s romantic-drama, Debi writes a story about a breakup, uncovering truths about her own relationship, while collaborating with her partner, Keith, featuring hot swimmers, gospel choirs, and questionable communication. Tickets: circa.co.nz
The Man Whose Mother Was A Pirate
KAT Theatre, Khandallah Park (wet weather venue Cochran Hall) Feb 22, 23; 1.30 and 3.30, koha
Tim Bray’s script, with songs by Christine White, brings one of Margaret Mahy’s treasured stories for youngsters to the stage.
Harvest Moon
Carterton Event Centre, Feb 22, 7.30pm, $32.50
Featuring six talented musicians, Harvest Moon’s two-hour show is a feast of musical mastery. Expect a dazzling array of instruments all backed by rich vocal harmonies and a solid rhythm section. Tickets: cartertonec.co.nz
Hope, by Jenny Pattrick
Circa Theatre, to Feb 23, $25-$60
Hope is a poignant exploration of a fictional near-future where, in order to reduce spending, a controversial government bill bars people with terminal illnesses from receiving anything but pain management in their final year of life. Note: Hope references the end-of-life bill and suicide. Read Sarah Catherall’s review. Tickets: circa.co.nz
Touch Grass
Te Auaha, to Feb 22, 8pm, $15-$20
Touch Grass is a musical comedy show about how we respond to activism in the social media age. Laugh, groove, and figure out how to make a better world. Tickets: fringe.co.nz
The Fabulous Fabelinskys
Tapere Nui, Te Auaha, to Feb 22, 7.30pm
This heart-warming comedy/drama play features breathtaking circus acts. Set in a travelling circus in the 1890s, it is the story of a family circus act, The Fabelinskys. Papa and Mama and their two adult daughters have always pretended to be Russian, except Papa has just died. Tickets: fringe.co.nz
The Tittles
BATS - The Stage, to Feb 22, 8pm, $15-$25
Tune in to the final episode of The Tittles!, as they celebrate a decade of Tittle-tastic times. There will be cake, musical chairs, blood, and lot's and lot's of fun.Tickets: bats.co.nz
Oversharer
BATS - The Dome, to Feb 22, 7pm, $15-$25
Packed with comedic storytelling and a touch of spectacle, Oversharer is a comedic play about the journey from people pleaser to villain. Tickets: bats.co.nz
Wellington Hums
BATS - The Stage, to Feb 22, 6.30pm, $15-$25
International award winning, musician, poet, and musical director Mike McKeon, invites all Wellingtonians to join him in his new project, Wellington Hums. Tickets: bats.co.nz
Oh Substance
Te Auaha, to Feb 22, 6.30pm, $15-$25
A scientist stands on the verge of discovery, Sisyphus pushes his boulder, and a little boy gazes at the moon, wondering where the stars have gone. Tickets: fringe.co.nz
For You to Know and Me to Find Out
Te Auaha, to Feb 22, various times, $16-$20
Multi-disciplinary artist Liv Tennet brings her captivating solo dance narrative to Wellington’s NZ Fringe Festival. Tickets: fringe.co.nz
Poetry in the Garden
Katherine Mansfield House & Garden, 25 Tinakori Rd, Thorndon, Feb 23, 2pm, free
Bring a picnic and sit on the lawn to hear readings from young local poets whose work has been published by Starling, The Spinoff and in poetry collections. Limited seating will be available.
Tecuani
Hannah Playhouse, Feb 25-27, 7.30pm, $24-$30
Tecuani is an immersive sensory experience providing an intriguing, powerful and stimulating synergy of movement, voice, spatial design, mask and virtual technologies. The work brings to the forefront a story of reclamation looking at the past to re-imagine the future. Tickets: fringe.co.nz
Strings and piano
St Andrew's on the Terrace, Feb 26, 12:15 pm, koha.
Join us for a gorgeous concert with Glinka’s Trio Pathétique in D minor and Chopin’s Sonata in G minor for cello and piano, Op. 65. Featuring: Rolf Gjelsten, Nicole Chao, Helene Pohl and Beth Chen.
In Other Words
Circa One, Feb 27-Mar 8, 6.30pm, various prices
Jennifer Ward-Lealand and Michael Hurst star In Other Words, written by Matthew Seager. Connected by the music of Frank Sinatra, this intimate, humorous and deeply moving love story explores the effects of Alzheimer’s disease and the transformative power of music to help us remember the past, connect with the present and hope for the future. Tickets: circa.co.nz
Twins From the Bin
The Pow Wow Room, Feb 27-Mar 1, 7.30pm, $12-$15
These twin sisters, who also happen to be only children, discovered each other in the bin - you know, the way babies are born. Join Chen Wang and Summer Begalka out of the bin for some out of the box stand-up comedy.Tickets: fringe.co.nz
Cancer Card, Becky Steepe
Circus Bar, Feb 27-Mar 1, 6.30pm, koha
A surprisingly hilarious story about what happens when you’re dealt the cancer card and have to bluff your way to a win. Tickets: fringe.co.nz
The Self Possessed
St Christopher's, Seatoun, Feb 27-Mar 1, 8pm, $15-$30
The Castrato and The Countertenor. Two very queer voices, two very eccentric existences. 1800s opera superstar, Gaetano Guardagni duets across 275 years with obscure 21st century Antipodean artist Glenn McKenzie. Tickets: fringe.co.nz
Book launch
Unity Books, Feb 25, 6pm
Join us in the shop to celebrate the launch of Through Shifts & Shocks by Steve Vamos, published by John Wiley & Sons. This book is an essential guide for leaders and teams to navigate change and perform better in the face of uncertainty. Steve will be signing on the evening.
Author Talk
Unity Books, Feb 27, 12.30pm
Join us for the release of this sparkling new collection, Te Moana o Reo | Ocean of Languages, edited by Michelle Elvy & Vaughan Rapatahana published by The Cuba Press. Bringing together more than 40 languages, this collection highlights the beautifully complex realities of Aotearoa’s multicultural and multilingual society.
Bottom Surgery
The Fringe Bar, Feb 27-Mar 1, 9pm, $24-$35
Join award-winning performer Lily Catastrophe in her glitter-soaked debut solo. Part-memoir, part-plea for better transgender healthcare, Bottom Surgery will be an evening dripping with attitude. Tickets: fringe.co.nz
Unity Book Club: Theory & Practice by Michelle de Kretser
Unity Books, Feb 27, 6.10pm
Melissa and Eden are hosting our monthly book club to discuss some of the excellent recently released books. Theory & Practice is a mesmerising account of desire and jealousy, truth and shame. It makes and unmakes fiction as we read, expanding our notion of what a novel can contain.
Vivienne Westwood & Jewellery
Te Papa, to April 27
This summer, Te Papa will be the first venue to kick-off the global tour of Vivienne Westwood & Jewellery, a retrospective exhibition celebrating the iconic jewellery of renowned British fashion house Vivienne Westwood. Tickets: tepapa.nz/Westwood
Exhibitions
10 Years On: An exhibition of paintings by Mark Peck
IAS Community Gallery, Inverlochy Art School, Te Aro, to Feb 28, weekdays 10am-2pm, free
IAS Community Gallery is proud to present a solo exhibition by Wellington painter Mark Peck. It's 10 years since Peck decided to try his hand at painting, and has been devoted to the practice ever since.
Fix me to the world – Selling Exhibition
Webb’s Gallery, to Mar 8, 9am-5.30pm, Sat, 11am-3pm
Fix Me to the World features six contemporary artists exploring the human form in painting, expressing the complexities of the mind and emotions through imagined bodies and landscapes
Enjoy Contemporary Art Space, to Mar 29, Wed-Fri, 11am-6pm, Sat, 11am-4pm
In Iterations/Alterations, Catherine Griffiths expands upon her past work while also responding to current events. Griffiths presents a body of work that is ever-evolving, referencing global social and political issues.
Enjoy Contemporary Art Space, to Mar 29, Wed-Fri, 11am-6pm, Sat, 11am-4pm
Maungarongo (Ron) Te Kawa’s Rutu, Rongo and Rita features a series of wall hangings. These quilts explore the themes of skin colour politics in Aotearoa’s past, present, and future.
Enjoy Contemporary Art Space, to Mar 29, Wed-Fri, 11am-6pm, Sat, 11am-4pm
In Low Tide, Manuha’apai Vaeatangitau (Manu Vaea) explores themes of queer mundanity, grief and regret. Vaea counteracts the pressure to be extraordinary and highlights quiet moments that define daily life.
Mana Tipua Tuku Iho
Courtenay Place
The latest Courtenay Place Light Boxes outdoor exhibition by Te Whanganui-a-Tara based artist Louie Zalk-Neale (Ngāi Te Rangi) is Mana Tipua Tuku Iho, a series of photographic visualisations that depict takatāpui as Mana Tipua in and around the waters of Wellington.
Meditations
National Library of New Zealand, to Mar 1, Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat 9am-1pm, free
From City Gallery, Meditations explores time and creation of personal archives from artists Moorina Bonini, Lily Dowd, Te Ara Minhinnick, and Areta Wilkinson. Experimental, defiant, and other-worldly.
Boro – Timeworn Textiles of Japan
Pātaka Art + Museum, to Mar 9, free
A significant collection of Japanese textiles and garments showcasing boro, a traditional art of mending. Boro is a method of hand-sewn, repeated repairs that use sashiko – a running stitch, ideally the size of a grain of rice – to beautifully preserve and recycle fabric.
Yhonnie Scarce’s Night Blindness
Dowse Art Museum, to Mar 9
Night Blindness is the first solo exhibition in New Zealand by contemporary artist Yhonnie Scarce (Kokatha and Nukunu peoples), featuring innovative large-scale glass installations, rooted in extensive research and deep personal connections to the histories she explores.
Diane Prince: Activist Artist
Pātaka Art + Museum, to Mar 9, open daily, free
Diane Prince (Ngā Puhi, Ngāti Whatua and Ngāti Kahu) is a painter, weaver, installation art practitioner, set designer and educator, whose multimedia practice emphasises Māori rights, particularly Māori women’s rights.
Rangirua
Pātaka Art + Museum, to Mar 9, open daily, free
Rangirua presents two takes on the two-person exhibition. The show features two artist pairings, bringing together works by Neke Moa and Rowan Panther, as well as Gabrielle Amodeo and Martin Thompson.
Selections from the Field Collection
Toi MAHARA, Waikanae, to Mar 30, 10am–4pm, Tuesday-Sunday, free
Works from the Field Collection by Frances Hodgkins, Petrus van der Velden, James Nairn, Isabel Field and others.
For the Birds
Te Māra Toi Gallery (Visitors Centre) at Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne, to Mar 31, daily 9am-5pm, free to gallery
Celebrate native wildlife and wildspaces in this annual group art show. Featuring wildlife artists working in a range of media, including glass, ceramics, photoartistry, acrylics, wire, watercolour and more.
Toi MAHARA, Waikanae, to April 6, 10am–4pm, Tuesday–Sunday, free
Sue Soo (1927–2016) came to New Zealand as a war refugee from China in 1940. In the 1960s Sue and her husband Ken Soo had two fruit and vegetable shops in Raumati. Sue began painting after her husband’s death and created hundreds of joyful paintings of ballerinas, flowers, animals and birds.
Leap to the Place of Two Pools
Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, to April 6, Tues-Sun 11am-5pm
New films commissioned by CIRCUIT Artist Moving Image amplifying multisensorial ways of being, from Kah Bee Chow, Selina Ershadi, Kite, Sonya Lacey, and James Tapsell-Kururangi, curated by Erin Robideaux Gleeson.
Toi i te waru
Te Papakura Art Gallery/Executive Wing of Parliament Buildings, to Apr 30, free
Toi i te Waru literally means “art in the eighth”, being a reference to the eighth month of the Māori year (Huitanguru, usually around February). As this is the hottest time of year, however, i te waru “in the eighth” has become a colloquial saying more or less equivalent to “in the heat of summer”.
Gavin Hurley: Growing Up
NZ Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata, to May 11
Gavin Hurley: Growing Up offers a unique opportunity to experience Hurley’s meditative reflections on identity, history, and the complexity of growing up. It examines male identity through the public figures once seen as the pinnacle of masculinity in late 20th-century New Zealand, such as captains and explorers.
Taku Hoe
Pātaka Art + Museum, to May 25, open daily, free
Taku Hoe features a selection of work by the Aotearoa visual artists who exhibited in FestPAC 2024 in Hawai’i. It uses the theme of voyaging to celebrate connections between people across the Pacific ocean.
A Different Light: First Photographs of Aotearoa
Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, to June 15, Tues-Sun 11am-5pm
A selection of some of the earliest photographs produced in Aotearoa drawn from Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum, Alexander Turnbull Library and Uare Taoka o Hākena Hocken Collections.
The Brood
The Dowse Art Museum, to June 22
This exhibition is part of the Curator of Screams project, a collaboration between Aaron Lister (City Gallery Wellington) and Chelsea Nichols (The Dowse) which explores the relationship between contemporary art and horror films. The Brood showcases newly commissioned works by an exciting group of young(ish) artists whose practices explore the gothic, the monstrous, and the uncanny.
- _To be considered for inclusion in this column, email your listing to arts@thepost.co.nz. _Include the name of the event, venue, date and time, cost and a paragraph about the event itself.__