Overview
Having drip-fed a handful of shows over the past month, the organisers of Auckland Arts Festival have finally dropped the full program for 2018. The new season welcomes new Artistic Director Jonathan Bielski, who brings a new music and events precinct and a huge lineup of ticketed and free performances and events from Aotearoa and across the world.
For 2018, he's landed international theatre productions, including an adaptation of the George Orwell classic 1984, Robert Lepage's lunar drama Far Side of the Moon and Us/Them, a powerful play which tackles the Beslan school siege from the view of two children tangled up in the terror.
Closer to home, The Naked Samoans will come out of hiding to perform The Naked Samoans Do Magic, while Auckland Theatre Company will present Still Life with Chickens, about a woman's friendship with a chicken.
The major international dance work for 2018 is the English National Ballet production of Giselle, which will precede the festival from March 1-4.
German composer Max Richter arrives with a trilogy of works, including an eight-hour concert designed to be heard while in and out of consciousness, while the late Mahinārangi Tocker will be honoured with a supergroup, comprising Anika Moa, Annie Crummer, Shona Laing, Nadia Reid and Emma Paki.
Elsewhere, you can expect: art-opera, masters of vocal harmony, interactive street theatre, French-Vietnamese bamboo circus and a pyrotechnic drumming troupe.
The Festival Playground is the new music precinct for 2018. Positioned at Silo Park, the zone will host large and small music events, pop-up food and beverage stalls and activities for the kids. The lineup will be announced Thursday 2 November. At the heart of the precinct will be House of Mirrors, a massive walk-through labyrinth, made from 40 tonnes of steel and 15 tonnes of glass and composed of seemingly endless mirrors.
Auckland Arts Festival 2018 will take place from 8-25 March. For more information and the full program, visit www.aaf.co.nz.
Image: Gate Photography