On Sunday, Nikolai Demidenko launched Auckland Museum's 2015 Fazioli International Piano Recital Series with a thoughtful and testing Chopin programme.

The dancing ‘soldier boys’ perfectly translate human strength and fragility in the war, writes Bernadette Rae.

Greg Dixon talks to Rawiri Paratene about how he came to be taking Shakespeare to the world.

Comedian and bestselling children’s author David Walliams recounted how the inspiration for one of his villains came from his experience judging Britain's Got Talent.

Learning lines, frumpy clothes, and getting naked … Kiwi fashion queen Denise L’Estrange-Corbet talks to Suzanne McFadden about her very revealing stage debut.

Emily Perkins' A Doll's House is to Henrik Ibsen's original what Clueless is to Jane Austen's Emma: it's a wonderfully assured adaptation, writes Janet McAllister.

The opening stage is set with a tall scarlet banner which flows, bloodlike, from the rafters and bears the names, of relatives of the company one suspects, lost to the savageries of war.

The Kiss Inside, an exposition on the primal search for ecstasy, finds him in a new frame of mind though, with an underlying wryness to his observations, anger mitigated, the passion wiser.

A young Kiwi will fulfil a dream today when she dances lead ballerina in Swan Lake, performed by the Paris Opera Ballet.

The fact that Shakespeare wrote a play called Love's Labours Won is beyond dispute, though no copy has been found.

On a sunny terrace “somewhere in La Mancha”, all is swirling skirts, clicking heels and the colours of sunshine.

A tormented shriek, a sudden drop into darkness and a tall figure in robes emerges from the shadows, ranting.

As Adesola Osakalumi speaks, the native of The Bronx, New York, slips between his own accent and that of Nigerian activist and musical legend Fela Kuti.

Entertaining a discerning audience of 2- to 4-year-olds is a never-ending challenge for British theatre artist Andy Manley.

With two cooks, 12 drummers and no words The Kitchen is more than just a play - it's a metaphor for life.

Silo Theatre brings flair to the stage adaptation of a delightful modern fable by Dutch writer Guus Kuijer.

Auckland's Art Festival is filling the streets, parks and theatres for the next two weeks with light, colour and music. Find out what's on this week and our don't miss pics.

"Hold on," says the woman on the end of the line. "He is in rehearsal right now. I'll just go and grab him."

When actor-singer Robbie Tripe lost his long-running battle with depression last November, grieving family and friends wanted to ensure the death of the 41-year-old would not be in vain.

Pip Hall, the daughter of playwright Roger Hall, is a playwright herself, as well as a scriptwriter, actor and producer. Eight years ago she started synchronised swimming troupe Wet Hot Beauties.

The first evening concert of Te Uru Waitakere's Black Rainbow festival augured well for the gallery's enterprising cultural mix.

Italy's leading tourist attractions including the Colosseum could soon be in foreign hands as the country seeks new directors from around the world to make its museums more profitable.

There's a good chance Leighton Leevard wouldn't be the healthy and happy boy he is today if not for the staff at Starship.

Starship nurses dressed up as cats and a doctor wrapped himself in green bandages to look like a leprechaun in their efforts to settle a young leukaemia patient.