This weekend we want to go to ...

Captain Festus McBoyle's Travellin' Variety Show touches down in Blockhouse Bay this weekend.

Blockhouse Bay Community Centre: A treasure trove of fun awaits if you set sail for the Blockhouse Bay Community Centre on Saturday afternoon. The Free Family Fun Day Mash Up is headlined by family favourite Captain Festus McBoyle and his Travellin' Variety Show. These guys are like a more risqué Pixar, enthralling kids with their piratey-ness while slipping in plenty of sly jokes for the adults in the room. They're a lot of fun. The bFM Kids Show host DJ Lee will spin a tasty selection of classic tunes throughout, Le Cirque de JP, a graduate of the French Circus School, performs and so will Otis 'Guitar Ace' Mace, the 80s alt-radio staple who's opened for people like Billy Bragg and Violent Femmes. What more could you want? Face painting and a sausage sizzle you say? Well, tick and tick. The festivities kick off at midday and run until late afternoon. As stated in the title, admission is free but it's on a "first come, first in" basis, so don't dilly dally. The Free Family Fun Day Mash Up, Blockhouse Bay Community Centre, Saturday, noon-4.30pm

Spark Arena: It's not often New Zealand hosts someone with the kind of star power Celine Dion has. We're lucky to welcome the Canadian legend for three shows this weekend and next Tuesday, for Dion's first visit to New Zealand in more than two decades.

Celine Dion appears in Auckland this weekend.

The singer told the Herald in February that her NZ shows would be a "different energy" than usual — expect them to be more "rock n roll", she said. The tour is particularly exciting for a couple of Kiwi fans — The Breaker Upperers directors Madeleine Sami and Jackie Van Beek managed to lobby support from stars such as Russell Crowe to arrange a meeting with the star herself.
Celine Dion, Spark Arena, Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday, August 14, 8pm

Miriama McDowell plays Aria, an idealistic politician, in Sam Brooks' new play, Burn Her.

Q Theatre

: Playwright and journalist Sam Brooks' new play about the politics of gender — or the gender of politics — is garnering five star reviews and igniting conversations about women, work, sexual harassment and the media. It's a chance to see a fine cast — Miriama McDowell, Bree Peters, Andi Crown, Amelia Reynolds, Roy Ward and Geordie Holibar — at the top of their game in a clever and witty drama where an idealistic politician must decide what or who she's willing to sacrifice to her own ambitions.

Burn Her, Loft at Q Theatre, until Saturday, August 18

Rafael Serrallet stirs things up in Auckland this weekend.

All Saints Church, Ponsonby and Corban Estate Arts Centre

: It doesn't get much more Iberian than this: a top classical guitarist from Spain playing music spanning 750 years, all of it written by his countrymen. Rafael Serrallet lives in Valencia, plays all over the world and holds a PhD from the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (thesis topic: the works of Manuel Palau — a Spanish composer from Valencia, naturally). The music Serrallet plays in his two Auckland concerts is anything but academic and features some of the best-known pieces by composers such as Albeniz, Granados and Turina. Expect lots of fiery, flamenco-style strumming.

Rafael Serrallet — Capricio Espagnol, All Saints Church Ponsonby, Saturday August 11, 6pm; Corban Estate Arts Centre, Henderson, Sunday August 12, 6pm