Te Ahurei Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Arts Festival is back with a bang this March. Catch over 40 shows and events over 18 days from March 9, with a host of acclaimed international acts finally included after three years of border closures – and many worthy local artists, musicians and performers to catch as well. “Auckland’s arts festival was the first to be established in the Asia-Pacific region way back in 1948,” said artistic director Shona McCullagh in a statement. “More than 70 years later, we joyfully celebrate the return of the festival to the stages, parks and streets of Tāmaki Makaurau after such disrupted years.”

From groundbreaking theatre to high-octane musical performances, here are our picks for what to catch at Auckland Arts Festival.

Sandsong: Stories From the Great Sandy Desert
Bangarra Dance Theatre is one of Australia’s leading Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander performing arts companies, and its work Sandsong is profound, powerful and highly acclaimed. It’s “a storytelling born of 65,000 years of culture”, three of the company’s dancers told Broadsheet when it premiered in 2021. Sandsong is set against the backdrop of the vast Kimberley desert and was created in consultation with Wangkatjungka/Walmajarri Elders from the Kimberley and Great Sandy Desert regions. Showing at ASB Waterfront Theatre, it draws on the stories, knowledge and memories of the past to create a new narrative for Indigenous futures. March 15-18, ASB Waterfront Theatre.

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The Picture of Dorian Gray
Sydney Theatre Company’s groundbreaking one-person show makes its New Zealand debut. Be mesmerised by actor Eryn Jean Norvill, who performs as all 26 characters. It’s not just Norvill that makes this a powerful show though – it’s also the technical wizardry and modern themes of youth and obsession. Key to its success is the extraordinary way Kip Williams, STC artistic director and the play’s adaptor, combines impressive tech with simple theatrical storytelling. Norvill is live on stage the entire show except for one four-second break where she can take a sip of water. On stage, Norvill executes complete costume changes, takes selfies and adds filters to her photos. At one point she has dinner with not one but seven different versions of herself, all the while delivering a note-perfect monologue before six on-stage cameras. March 18-25, Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Aotea Centre.

Judith Hill
She’s a Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who also starred in the Oscar-winning documentary 20 Feet From Stardom – and Judith Hill is making her Australasian debut at Auckland Arts Festival. Her music runs the gamut from R&B to gospel, blues to soul – Prince even co-produced her debut album Back in Time, which was released in 2015. She’s performing over two nights at Aotea Square, and her famously charismatic on-stage persona (and incredible voice) makes for an entrancing show. March 18 & 19, Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent, Aotea Square.

Revisor
Another Australasian premiere after selling out in London and Canada, this highly acclaimed show was created by Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite and playwright Jonathon Young. Pite directs eight dancers from her hybrid dance-and-theatre company Kidd Pivot, who move on stage in a precise “full-body lip-sync” with a scripted voiceover. The script is written by Young and inspired by the classic satirical play The Government Inspector (originally named Revizor) by 19th-Century Russian playwright Nikolai Gogol. It’s a darkly comedic production that centres on themes of greed and political corruption; it was described by the Guardian in its 2020 five-star review as an “astonishing” piece, “not for its imitation, but for its exactitude”. March 9-11, Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Aotea Centre.

The Savage Coloniser Show
Tusiata Avia is an award-winning poet, performer and writer who became the first female Pasifika poet to receive the Ockham Award for poetry for her 2020 collection The Savage Coloniser Book. Now, that book has been turned into a stage show, following Avia’s one-woman poetry show Wild Dogs Under My Skirt which toured internationally. Directed by Anapela Polata’ivao, The Savage Coloniser Show is touted as a powerful, unflinching and bleakly comedic examination of race and racism, “as provocative as it is necessary”. March 9-12, Rangatira Q Theatre.

The Chosen Haram
This multifaceted production (yet another Australasian debut) sees a story of forbidden love play out through acrobatics on Chinese poles. It’s based on the lived experience of Edinburgh-born artist Sadiq Ali (who also co-stars as one of the performers alongside Hauk Pattison) and explores homosexuality within Islam. With gravity-defying skills, they tell the story of two gay men who meet through a dating app, and the ensuing challenges they face from all sides – cultural, religious, societal and personal – all set to a “banging soundtrack”.
March 24-26, Rangatira, Q Theatre.

Rupi Kaur
She’s arguably one of the world’s most famous contemporary poets, and the Milk and Honey author is returning to Tāmaki Makaurau for a one-night spoken-word poetry performance. She’s travelled extensively across the globe on sold-out tours, and you can see the phenomenon for yourself as she performs a range of new, unpublished pieces, plus poems from her 2020 book Home Body and well-known works from her famous collections – 2014’s Milk and Honey and 2017’s The Sun and Her Flowers. March 24, Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall.

Bill Withers Social Club
Lean on Me, Ain’t No Sunshine, Lovely Day – Bill Withers’s songs are iconic. Several well-known Aotearoa musicians have collaborated to produce this homage to the music legend (who passed away in March 2020) including Troy Kingi, Dallas Tamaira of Fat Freddy’s Drop, Rio Hemopo of Trinity Roots and Lauren Barus of Terrible Sons. Head to Auckland Town Hall for what’s sure to be a feel-good evening – and get those vocal cords warmed up to sing along. March 9, Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall.