Late Jan­u­ary 2020 and the sum­mery weath­er is here. I final­ly feel like I’m wak­ing up in 2020  — which is a bit awk­ward giv­en I’ve been back at work for a few weeks…but enough about work!  Brace your­selves for a busy the­atri­cal start to the year. We’ve got three Fes­ti­vals com­ing our way in the first three months of 2020 along with Sum­mer Shake­speare. 

Posed group photo

That fes­ti­val life starts with the Six Degrees Fes­ti­val on 30 Jan­u­ary. Mas­ter of Fine Arts stu­dents from Vic­to­ria Uni­ver­si­ty of Welling­ton cel­e­brate their year of learn­ing at BATS The­atre with sev­en diverse per­for­mances. Fea­tur­ing devised and script­ed work, the shows include a solo work about the pow­er of women, a prom­e­nade par­ty full of actors; a VR immer­sive expe­ri­ence and a ver­ba­tim piece about the Napi­er earth­quakes. The stu­dents come from a vari­ety of back­grounds — design­ers, writ­ers, VR mak­ers, pro­duc­ers and impro­vis­ers with a range of expe­ri­ence in the per­form­ing arts indus­try. 

Man wearing a pink shirt with a pink flower where his mouth isWelling­ton Sum­mer Shake­speare is in the Base­ment The­atre at Te Whaea in New­town from 13 Feb­ru­ary. Fab­u­lous Shane Bosh­er is direct­ing A Mid­sum­mer Night’s Dream, one of Shakespeare’s most pop­u­lar plays. Young lovers, fairies and a don­key, oh my. I expect all sorts of phys­i­cal shenani­gans and out­ra­geous sce­nar­ios with Bosh­er helm­ing. You’ll be able to keep your ener­gy (and your wits) about you dur­ing this mul­ti-plot play with drinks from the Mock­tail Bar. (Yay! Some­thing to drink that’s not orange juice or lemon­ade, or orange juice and lemon­ade.)

NZ Festival logoHot on the donkey’s heels is New Zealand Fes­ti­val of the Arts start­ing 21 Feb­ru­ary. Three weeks of per­for­mance and exhi­bi­tion and dis­cus­sion curat­ed by three inter­na­tion­al­ly renowned per­form­ers — Lemi Poni­fa­sio, Lau­rie Ander­son, Bret McKen­zie — and Fes­ti­val Cre­ative Direc­tor Marnie Karmeli­ta. Along­side the tick­et­ed events there are a bunch of free events (includ­ing Con­cert for Dogs which I still  need to find a dog for.) The Writ­ers events are on for three weeks. Grab a Take Five Pass and save 20% on all $19 Writ­ers ses­sions (sub­ject to avail­abil­i­ty). Porirua City will be host­ing Te Ata, a fes­ti­val with­in a fes­ti­val, which “brings togeth­er artists from Aotearoa and around the world to exchange with young New Zealan­ders who wish to take a bold, brave and active role in shap­ing the cul­ture of the place where they live.“ This year’s pro­gram­ming looks damn excit­ing to me.

Wellington Fringe Festival logoThen NZ Fringe kicks off on 28 Feb­ru­ary with a sig­na­ture eclec­tic mix of shows. There’s every­thing in this fes­ti­val from estab­lished per­form­ers to first-timers, from award-win­ning over­seas acts to locals test­ing new ideas. Top tip — get your­self a Fringe Addict card for $15 to get access to cheap­er-than-cheap tick­ets and bar dis­counts. You nev­er quite know what you’re going to be get­ting with a Fringe show (that’s the charm of it!) but I reck­on a show you love, a show you hate, and a bunch of shows that made you hap­py, makes a good fes­ti­val.

What are your picks, good friends?