This weekend we want to go to...

This Christmas, the Basement Theatre's annual festive season show promises to be a blast - a blast off into space.

Basement Theatre

It's as much an Auckland Christmas institution as the Franklin Rd lights (you would have read that in one of our reviews), Smith and Caughey's window display and the Farmers Santa Parade (which is also on this weekend). It's the annual Christmas show at the Basement Theatre, gifted to a different group of writers to script and devise each year. For 2019, comedy trio Frickin' Dangerous Bro have aimed high taking the story to the International Space Station where the disgruntled crew is over freeze-dried food and squabbling about who should be captain. Things take a turn for the dramatic – with ample chances for comedy – when the hidden agenda of one crew member is revealed. Can they pull together, perform a miracle and save mankind? The show stars David Correos, Carrie Green, Marianne Infante and Sam Snedden with a special celebrity guest each night. Even Chloe Swarbrick in onboard.

A Frickin' Dangerous Space-mas, Basement Theatre until Friday, December 20.

Spark Arena

You know those movies where the talented singer just can't get a break but then is discovered busking or on YouTube? Well, Australian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Tash Sultana is living proof sometimes that actually happens. Her homemade music videos went viral and since then she's been living the dream by touring the globe, selling out arenas and playing at the world's biggest music festivals. Her new single Can't Buy Happiness is out now and you can hear it at the all ages show she performs in Auckland tomorrow where roots dub rock six-piece Tunes Of I open for her. For more, see TimeOut Magazine.
Tash Sultana – Flow State World Tour, Spark Arena, tomorrow night.

My Heart Goes Thadak Thadak is a homage to Indian cinema and the Spaghetti Westerns of the 1970s.

Q Theatre

Rakesh Ramsey is midway through shooting his latest film, one of the most ambitious the legendary Bollywood director has made, when he dies leaving Dust of the Delhi Plains – an epic Western with magnificent landscapes, gunfights on horseback, saloon bars and bounty-hunters – unfinished. It's up to his two children to take the disaster they've inherited and bring their father's dying dream to life but with no money, an unhappy crew and a temperamental Bollywood star is the whole thing cursed? Silo Theatre farewells 2019 with a wholly original new play written and directed by one of our most visionary theatre-makers, Ahi Karunaharan. It's billed as a joyous night at the theatre with sibling showdowns, divas, pure movie-making magic and dancing courtesy of a different community dance company each night.

My Heart Goes Thadak Thadak, Rangatira at Q Theatre, until Saturday, December 14.

Black Grace's Crying Men looks at masculinity through the eyes of Pacific men, with an excerpt part of its One Night Only programme.

ASB Waterfront Theatre

Black Grace turns 25 next year – and during those years, the dance company has built a dedicated following in the United States. Recently returned from performances in New York, Boston, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and Maryland, the company now gives Aucklanders a taste of the work they showcased. One Night Only draws from four Black Grace works, including excerpts from acclaimed full-length performances like Crying Men and As Night Falls. Despite international success, though, the company is committed to its NZ fans – earlier this year, it toured 20 towns and cities here at home.

Black Grace – One Night Only, ASB Waterfront Theatre, Saturday.