"If art provides us a mirror to see ourselves and the world reflected, art criticism helps us archive our collective experiences so we don't risk forgetting. After all, if a gay tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

"The Auckland Pride review project was an attempt to bring together the hardest working independent publications currently capturing our community's creative spirit. These are modest attempts to rail against cultural amnesia.

"Our collective memory in Aotearoa is an often murky one, particularly around our arts and artists, let alone our queer ones. But honouring our whakapapa, recent or otherwise, is an important part of queer culture. Protest and memorial is in Pride's DNA.

"A big thank you to Rat World, Bad Apple, Theatrescenes, and Pantograph Punch. And, of course, to all the critics, photographers, and artists. You make me feel possible."

- Nathan Joe, Creative Director of Auckland Pride.

Te Tīmatanga

Albert Park Caretakers' Cottage: February 1st - 26th

Te Tīmatanga is Auckland Pride’s Takatāpui offering within the Festival. This Rangatahi led public art & digital festival, looks to celebrate the legacy, resilience, talents and nuanced lived experiences of Aotearoa’s Kāhui Takatāpui.

“Te Tīmatanga encapsulates many art forms of self expression and shows how multifaceted we are as māori, simultaneously holding community as a takatāpui whānau while also highlighting each artist as beautiful individuals with their own pūrākau and artistry to share”

Read Rewa Fowles' review in full on Rat World!

"Being Takatāpui is fluid. We are shapeshifters, goblins and taniwha. I feel so lucky and overwhelmed to be part of a community that throws fantastic events that are inclusive and welcoming."

Read Whiro Walker's review in full on The Pantograph Punch!

Concerning the UFO Sighting Outside Mt Roskill

Basement Theatre: February 21st – Sat 25th

Concerning the UFO Sighting Outside Mt Roskill, Auckland” is a solo theatre show that tells the story of a young man in 1980’s Auckland that is struggling with his growing belief in aliens, and his life as a closeted gay man. Dana is an average office worker for an insurance company in Mt Roskill, his monotonous life and perspective unravels after he encounters a UFO while out late cruising at a local park.

“Bell sets the tone with energy, playing multiple characters from a projected screen with incredible timing, ensuing laughter from the audience as they try to keep up with him”

"From flickering lights above the audience as they ‘experience’ UFO sightings as “candles in the sky”, to the projector quickly changing the backdrop from office cubicles to a sea of grass as Dana is transported to a park each time he goes to the office coffee machine - the audience are mesmerized by Dana’s alien experiences"

Read Rewa Fowles' review in full on Rat World!

“In between dancing to Split Enz in your bedroom, watching Patrick Stewart be iconic as Jean-Luc Picard, the nostalgia hits hard…scenes in moody lighting of unrequited desires and feelings in nightclubs follow. These are times the mood becomes more emotional as we get a glimpse into Dana’s internal world.”Read Anjula Prakash’s review in full on Theatre Scenes! 

Off the Page: Losing Face

Ellen Melville Centre: February 23rd

Take a peek behind the scenes with the development of a new queer play in this staged reading. It’s Christmas Eve and an older white male and his younger Chinese male lover are waiting for the older white male’s half-Chinese daughter to show up. What could go wrong? Nathan Joe's Losing Face deconstructs the domestic drama into a series of failed reconciliations. A love story grappling with race, sexuality, love and family.

“You’re taken on a seemingly never-ending Groundhog Day catastrophe. It’s cutting; it’s witty; it has you laughing until your belly aches and then it has you fighting the burning sensation of tears building up in the back of your eyes in the very next beat”

Read Flora Xie's review in full on Rat World!

BTM Live

Auckland Old Folks Association Hall: February 4th

BTM Live is a live sculpture-making performance where Park digs out a mass of clay to create a cavity and reveal the wonderous record of the movement and marking in front of a live audience. The movements, the sound, and the material have a resemblance to the sex practice of fisting, a niche sex practice that is practiced in the queer and wider kink community. Park will be in full Dom Leather Daddy get up. R18.

"I bring with me my partner, an old friend, and a favoured friend. I’ve asked them all to be here with me in this place and time. I take a back seat to the exhibit..."

Read Jade Winterburn's poetic response in full on Rat World!

Festival of Live Art, F.O.L.A

Basement Theatre: Saturday 18th February

After most of F.O.L.A was devastatingly canceled due to ongoing weather impacts, Erin O’Flaherty savours the events on offer on the Festival’s final compacted day. “This was the third time F.O.L.A suffered from disruptions, with the previous two times seeing the festival cancelled all together due to Covid. The forces of nature continue to be relentless, an ever-evolving wave of small apocalypses, and the arts are not the only industry to suffer as a result… Which is why it was so great to be at the Basement on F.O.L.A’s final and only night on Saturday 18th February 2023.” Read Erin O’Flaherty’s review in full on Theatre Scenes!

“Performance is a concept and practice central to the experience of Queerness, and Transness, as we move through the world and under its vampiric gaze. A world keen to hold us at once at arm’s length, and under a microscope, behind bars and behind closed doors, mouth agape and drooling at our transgendered acrobatics.”

Reach Roman Sigley’s review in full on the Pantograph Punch

Naked & Dangerous

Q Theatre Rangatira: Wednesday 22nd - Saturday 25th FebruaryGrace Hood-Edwards finds Luck and Schooney’s cabaret Naked & Dangerous fulfills the tantalising promise of its title.“Forwardness of sexual thinking is not a part of Kiwi culture, and the audience was initially silent, uncertain of how to react – a few chuckles as Luck mimed snorting cocaine off one of the male dancer’s bodies.”

Read Grace Hood-Edward’s review in full on Theatre Scenes!

Show Ponies

Basement Theatre: Saturday 25th February

It’s the triumphant Tāmaki Makaurau debut of Freya Daly Sadgrove’s Show Ponies, featuring poets Emma Barnes, Venessa Mei Crofskey, Sam Duckor-Jones, Freya Daly Sadgrove, Ruby Solly, Chris Tse, Rebecca Hawkes, Dan Goodwin, and essa may ranapiri supported by a host of musicians, dancers and performances.“At the end of the performance they all lie on the floor in a burning pile. The stage manager sweeps them off stage with a large broom. There is something deeply funny, and yet poignant in this clean-up post the process of invention.”

Read Irene Corbertt’s review in full on Theatre Scenes!

“I’m particularly delighted to see a pink neon sign: Show Ponies, complete with a heart dotting the singular i. Stylish. Evocative. Playful.”

Read Tate Fountain’s review in full on Bad Apple

samesame but different literary festival

samesame but different is one of the most exciting Queer literary festivals out there! Naomii Seah reflects on the festival’s beginnings as she attends its diverse spread of offerings as part of Auckland Pride.

"It was a type of magic. At the event, there was an unspoken welcoming, the unparalleled acceptance of Queerness in all its forms, iterations and disguises."

Read Naomii Seah’s review in full on The Pantograph Punch