Basement theatre: Ana Chaya Scotney was one of the best things about home-grown comedy The Breaker Upperers (and there were a lot of great things about the film) but she's also a story-teller who likes to take to the stage and share other people's experiences. She returns to the Basement
with a one-woman show, The Contours of Heaven. NZ Herald theatre reviewer Janet McAllister said Scotney created beauty from documentary to channel verbatim stories of rangatahi struggling with brutal class lines in Hawke's Bay. We weren't at all surprised when it won the Auckland Fringe Festival's Best Theatre and Best Performance awards.
The Contours of Heaven, Basement Theatre, until Saturday, June 30
Aotea Square: You can't beat the cold, so you might as well make the most of it. In what's become an annual event, Aotea Square gets a winter makeover and goes all Frozen with the arrival of the ice rink so get your skates on. As well as the rink and the ice slide, there's now an ice bar serving cocktails to adults and mocktails to kids. You need a ticket because it's only open to 15 people at a time and there's not a lot of time to linger over your drinks with just a 25-minute time limit but there are ice sculptures to look at. The rink and the ice sculptures aren't the only thing to see. As part of the city's Matariki Festival, there's also a series of free light structures — pouwhenua — making Aotea Square a brighter place to be.
Aotea Square Ice Rink, Slide and bar, until Sunday, July 22
Ōtara Music Arts Centre: Che Fu, King Kapisi, Ardijah, Savage and Pauly Fuemana are some of the notable local musos who have spent time training and recording at the Ōtara Music Arts Centre (OMAC) which has been a musical cornerstone not just of its South Auckland home but the entire country for an astounding three decades. Its unparalleled contribution to our music history was recognised in May's
Vodafone Pacific Music Awards when it received the Special Recognition Award for outstanding achievement and immeasurable service to the community. To mark its 30th anniversary, OMAC throws open its doors and offers a range of activities including exhibitions, concerts and a retrospective of the last 30 years.
Ōtara Music Arts Centre (OMAC), Saturday
