What’s On: Fazerdaze, A Crime Caper & More Good Things For The Weekend

An action comedy has an extended theatre season, an artist goes unplugged and there’s a new comic book in town.

See a dance show

The first performance of Q Theatre’s Matchbox season will kick off next week, with the contemporary dance duet Rituals of Similarity. Brittany and Natasha Kohler have choreographed and created the show, which explores the experience of being identified as identical twins, drawing on their own sisterly relationship. Through the movements, the dancers look to explore the intricacies and oddities of what it means to be two people who are recognised as one. The performers are also supported by a full creative team, with set design, lighting and live music set to enhance the show. Tickets start from $25 and are available from Qtheatre.co.nz

Read a new comic series

Writer, illustrator and musician Daniel Vernon (Ngāti Kahungunu Te Wairoa) has teamed up with underground music hub Under The Radar (UTR) to produce a new series of comics, for an exciting music journalism project. Down Under & UTR sees Vernon’s distinctive style employed to explore stories from local musicians in bold illustrative form. The first edition, now available to read at UTR, explores the release of ‘Crucified By U’ earlier this year, a single from Theia (Waikato-Tainui, Ngaati Tiipaa). The comic explores how harsh expectations led Theia to seek out honesty in her songwriting and catalogues the process of releasing the song, which has since become a relieving anthem for Takatāpui. The series will see five editions of the comics, each following a different local musician, published online at Undertheradar.co.nz and on Vernon’s Instagram.

Wander a historical exhibition

An elegant photographic installation, Stella Brennan: Ancestor Technologies, from Stella Brennan, is currently being housed at Te Whare Toi City Gallery Wellington. The artist has reprinted images from 120-year-old photo negatives onto habotai silk, capturing not only the historical shots but all of the debris that has impacted their clarity throughout the years. The Edwardian-era photographs were taken by Brennan’s great-great aunt Louise Laurent (and her husband William), who was a student of the Elam School of Art in the late 1890s. The negatives had been stored in a shed until they were found by Laurent’s grandson in 1960. The silk images are marked with all of the evidence of the time that has passed since their initial capture. The exhibition seeks to draw attention to the art-making materials themselves and explore how their functions impact the way we consider history. Stella Brennan: Ancestor Technologies will close on September 3.

With the Fifa World Cup well underway across the country (and over in Australia), the celebrations and festivities are wide-ranging. In Auckland, the Harbour Bridge and Sky Tower are both being lit up in bright colours and patterns of the tournament, with a musical show accompanying the harbour sights. ‘Unity’, the ‘Unity Beat’ and the official tournament song ‘Do It Again’ by Benee, featuring Mallrat, will play live with the changing lights. The show will play every 15 minutes from 6pm until midnight, ending this Sunday.

Catch a sold-out season

Following major demand and a stream of reviews full of praise, Ankita Singh’s Basmati Bitch has been extended — five more shows will play at Q Theatre. The show follows Shiva, a retired MMA fighter, and Bisma, a disillusioned immigration administrator, and their scrappy group of friends, as they become embroiled in an underground ‘fight club’ and illegal rice-trading market. It’s an achingly sweet play, full of playfully choreographed action and delightful performances from a capturing cast. The season will now draw to a close on August 5.

Go to an unplugged tour

Local musician Fazerdaze, aka Amelia Murray, is set to tour Aotearoa, after opening for musical titans like Haim, Unknown Mortal Orchestra and The XX. Her EP Break! was released last year, with stronger electronic and grunge influences than her early dream-pop work on Morningside (named after the west Auckland suburb). As the album title might suggest, the tracks explore feelings of burnout and anxiety, eventually relief in just coming apart. The album is cathartic and dancey, and acoustic versions for the ‘unplugged’ tour will likely pack some emotional punch. Fazerdaze will play the solo tour in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland (as a part of Elemental Nights), Pōneke Wellington, Ōtaki, Ōtautahi Christchurch and Ōtepoti Dunedin (a few shows close to selling out). The tour will be unplugged, making the most of the intimate venues. The tour starts on August 3 and wraps up on August 12.

Book ahead

Classical on Cuba will return to the streets of Pōneke this September, bringing 80 shows to the capital for a rollicking musical party. The festival will see artists celebrating classical tunes while indulging in some contemporary experimentation too. Among the many artists and groups performing at the event are Māori performance collective Hiwa, award-winning pianist Somi Kim and the electric violin-cello-piano group NZTrio. Classical on Cuba will take place on September 2 and 3, with performances across 12 venues in Wellington. To catch some of the main events, you can book a $12 ticket for the Classical Crawl, which will tour through the heart of the festival across the two days.

Book a show

Taite Music Prize winner Princess Chelsea is set to tour her award-winning album Everything Is Going To Be Alright around Te Ika-a-Māui this October, playing every single track from the record. The album meshes a poppy sound with some gothic and ethereal elements, for a witty exploration of emotional highs and lows. Viva record reviewer Peter Baker notes that the “album has been lauded critically and embraced by fans and musicians, and is flush with silky pop textures, lushly orchestrated nocturnes and alternative space rock.” Princess Chelsea and friends will play on tour in Auckland, Whanganui, Paekākāriki and Wellington from October 12-15. Tickets go on sale at 10am today from Banishedmusic.com