Ten Must See Shows At Auckland Arts Festival 2013

It's nearly that season again. The biennial event culture lovers mark on their calendars months in advance - Auckland Arts Festival. This year's programme looks set to deliver an entertaining collection of diverse and engaging local and international shows which showcase the incredible pool of talent out there in the performing arts world. Make sure you get in early though, some of these shows are already filling up fast.

For a little help with what to choose, we've put together a list of Concrete Playground's top ten shows to catch at the festival.

1. URBAN

Cast away any preconcieved ideas you may have of the circus -  scary clowns, snarling lions and damsels in distress do not feature here. Instead Colombian graduates of Circo Para Todos, Circus for Everyone - the world's first professional circus school for disadvantaged youth - offer an explosive mix of street dance and acrobatics. It's inspired by stories from the young performers lives and is set to high energy Latin hip hop and reggae. This is set to be electrifyingly good.

* This show is on March 13-17 at The Civic.

2. ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS

The 'it' show of the moment, it's quite unbelievable how many five star reviews this show has racked up. So what is this "riotous farce" as described by The Guardian all about?  Fired from his skiffle band and desperate, Francis Henshall (one man) lands the job of being minder to both Roscoe Crabbe and Stanley Stubbers (two guvnors). Francis must make sure his two guvs never meet but they are both mixed up in so many underhand schemes that our man ends up getting himself in quite the muddle. Expect much Pythonesque absurity in this best of British comedy.

* This show is on March 14-23 at The Aotea Centre.

3. THE STRANGE UNDOING OF PRUDENCIA HART

This 2011 Edinburgh Fringe Festival hit combines two great things, theatre and the pub. Well, if you're going to set a play in a pub you might as well perform it in a pub so the audience can enjoy a pint at the same time, right? Even if your other half isn't much into the arts, you're bound to be able to win them over with the venue.

One wintry morning uptight academic Prudencia Hart stops in at a pub on her way home from a conference in Kelso, a town in the Scottish Borders. As she pulls up a chair, a blizzard sets in. Little does she know who or what awaits her. Prudencia's dream-like journey of self-discovery unfolds in and around the whisky drinking audience. This play is the lock-in to end all lock-ins - settle in and enjoy an evening of wickedly good theatre, live music and strange encounters.

* This show is on March 13-24 at The Bluestone Room.

4. EN ROUTE

Pick up a special issue MP3 player, charge up your mobile phone and get ready to experience a different side to the streets and back alleys of Auckland. Is it just me or does this show sound like it was tailor-made for Concrete Playground readers?

From the meeting point you follow clues through the streets, listening to local music and philosophical ponderings about ways of seeing. Aided by text messages and the odd human helper, this is your opportunity to take in the local sights as if you were a first time visitor and maybe even discover something new about your own stomping ground.

* This show is on March 06-24 in Central Auckland.

5. CANTINA

With acts of unbelievable daring, Cantina delivers its audience some truly "skilled-up and deliciously twisted entertainment", says The Guardian. Six performers, each with a freakish talent to take their bodies to the limit, test the boundaries between pleasure and pain, timidity and boldness.

Featuring a fabulous troupe from La Clique, Circus Oz and Circa and backed by haunting melodies from live piano-accordion and ukulele players, Cantina is an mesmerising spectacle of skilful, dangerous and sensual circus. Not for the easily shockable - contains male nudity, simulated violence and smoke.

* This show is on March 06-24 at Festival Club at Aotea Square.

6. GLEN HANSARD AND LISA HANNIGAN

If you're a fan of the 2007 movie Once starring Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, you'll know why I'm excited about this affable Irishman's inclusion in the festival. Hansard won Best Original Song at the Academy Awards for Falling Slowly and the film also gave a global audience exposure to his beautifully heartfelt and poignant style of folk rock.

Hansard will perform songs from his latest album Rhythm and Repose with his band The Frames. The up-and-coming indie folk singer Lisa Hannigan will also perform some of her own Irish soul.

* This show is on March 13 at Auckland Town Hall.

7. HUI

After 20 years, four estranged brothers are reunited by the death of their father. What ensues is a visceral, charged and stormy night as the brothers grieve, settle old disputes and struggle to articulate their brotherly love. Under the direction of 2012 New Zealand Arts Foundation Laureate Award recipient Rachel House (The Maori Troilus and Cressida) you can expect some powerful physicality driving writer Tawhi Thomas' poetic and punchy words.

* This show is on March 16-23 at Q Theatre Rangitira.

8. LEO

The winner of multiple awards at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2011, Leo tells the story of an unassuming man with a huge imagination. Stuck in a room with nowhere to go, Leo tests the limits of his strange new world and delights in the discovery that he is, in fact, superhuman. He can scale walls like Spiderman, dance on the ceiling like Fred Astaire and meditate in mid-air like an Indian guru.

Challenging the rules of gravity as well as genre, multi-talented dancer, actor, trampolinist, gymnast and clown Tobias Wegner, who is also the show's creator, delivers a perplexing and perspective-bending experience.

* This show is on March 19-24 at Maidment Theatre.

9. THE FACTORY

Hilarious and heartfelt, New Zealand's first Pacific musical weaves a romantic narrative and wry lyrics into a tribute to the courage of the Pacific migrants who came to Auckland during the 1970s,  searching for ways to support the families they left behind and striving to create new lives for themselves. With an original score by Poulima Salima, an array of soulful songs, slick choreography, a live seven-piece band -  and a whole lot of Pacific heart this show is bound to leave you grinning ear to ear.

10. BABEL (WORDS)

The Oliver award-winning show Babel, choreographed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Damien Jalet, explores the ideas of language and territory and the influence these concepts have on our lives.

The dancers move their bodies to a powerful live score that fuses Hindi beats, Japanese drumming and medieval flute and harp. They inhabit a steel cube construction which transforms into a series of towers and rooms, creating a sense of community one moment and isloation the next. The effect is powerful, evoking such feelings as optimism and despair in equal measures. Take a punt on this show and you won't be disappointed.

* This show is on March 21-23 at The Civic.