Theatre guide

The Man Whose Mother Was a Pirate
Venue: PumpHouse Theatre, Takapuna, ph 489 8360 Season ends: Saturday

Peter Pan: The Musical
Venue: Playhouse Theatre, Glen Eden, ph 361 1000 Season ends: Saturday
Grab any kids you know and take them along to these two shows, both giddily entertaining ways to enjoy the tail-end of the holidays. In the pirate tale, adapted from a Margaret Mahy story, you'll be asked to pretend to be the sea, while Peter Pan encourages booing, hissing and a spot of singing too. Great fun for all ages. - Linda Herrick

Plenty
Venue: Silo Theatre, Lower Grey's Ave Season ends: July 22
British playwright David Hare's powerful drama about a woman who is transformed by the danger of working as a resistance courier in wartime France. When she returns to the safeness of the post-war world, she finds herself using conflict as a weapon to feel alive.

A Night of French Mayhem
Venue: Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, 50 Mayoral Dr
Season ends: July 16
Two one-act comedies performed back-to-back by a cast of eight. With Two Precious Maidens Ridiculed is Moliere's story of two women who get more than they bargained for when they meet the very charming (and lustful) Mascarille. Then comes The Rehearsal, a biting satire of New Zealand theatre scene, based on a Moliere play.

Twelfth Night
Venue: Maidment Theatre, 8 Alfred St
Season ends: Aug 5
A classic Shakespearean comedy filled with cross-dressing and confusion, in which everybody seems to be in love with the wrong person. Cast includes Michael Hurst, Tandi Wright , George Henare and Jennifer Ward-Lealand.

The End of the Golden Weather
Venue: Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, 50 Mayoral Dr
Season: July 18-30
Bruce Mason's classic play in which 12-year-old Geoff, who is spending his school holidays in Takapuna in the 1930s, becomes embroiled in the Olympic dreams of naive simpleton Firpo.


Others:

Pinocchio
The Musgrove Studio, Maidment Theatre, 8 Alfred St, to July 15, ph 308 2383.

The Lesson
The Musgrove Studio, Maidment Theatre, 8 Alfred St, to July 25, ph 308 2383

Babes in Arms
WestPoint Performing Arts Centre, Motions Rd, Western Springs, to July 15, ph 361 1000.

Alice in Wonderland
Theatreworks, Birkenhead, to July 15, ph 419 0415.

Steel Magnolias
Theatre Pitt, 78 Pitt St, to July 15, ph 418 4547.

Anything Goes
Centreway Theatre, 66 Centreway Rd, Orewa, to July 15, ph (09) 426 7282

Footloose
Westlake Boys and Girls High School, July 17-21, ph 410 8667

Milo's Wake
Dog's Bollix, 2 Newton Rd, Newton, to July 23