The just-revealed schedule for next year includes six plays that vary from a classic caper from an iconic author, to the embrace of te reo Māori onstage.
The plays reflect the diverse desires of modern audiences, drawn to the theatre for a variety of reasons.
“The theatre is a place for ideas, enlightenment, education, disagreement, reflection and entertainment,” says Auckland Theatre Company artistic director and CEO Jonathan Bielski. “In 2025, we go to all those places at the behest of an array of great playwrights.”
Each of the six plays has a banner name with significant appeal, meaning its likely tickets will be hot property.
Icons of the theatre canon Dame Agatha Christie and William Shakespeare are back on stage in 2025. The MiNDFOOD-sponsored season Murder on the Orient Express sees Cameron Rhodes play Hercule Poirot in the unmissable whodunnit, while a sun-drenched sixties version of Romeo & Juliet sees Theo Dāvid and Phoebe McKellar meet as the famous star-crossed lovers.
In an historic move, TIRI: TE ARAROA WOMAN FAR WALKING by Witi Ihimaera DCNZM, QSM, will be performed in two parts each night, once in English and once in te reo Māori.
Seasoned theatre-goers will welcome the work of prolific playwright Sir Roger Hall KNZM, QSO to the schedule. In End of Summer Time Hall brings back one of his most famous characters, Dickie Hart who made his first appearance almost 30 years ago.
Finally, for those wanting something a bit left-of-center but still with an iconic history attached, MARY: The Birth of Frankenstein re-imagines the events of the night that birthed one of the most famous novels of all time, and a mixtape for maladies uses music to tell the story of a family ‘s past in Sri Lanka and finding their place in Aotearoa.
Each of the plays will be held at Auckland’s ASB Waterfront Theatre.
The Plays
a mixtape for maladies
by Ahi Karunaharan
4 – 23 Mar
The year’s programme opens with a world premiere, a mixtape for maladies, a collaboration with Agaram Productions and Te Ahurei Tōi o Tāmaki Auckland Arts Festival. Currently starring in international hit Counting and Cracking, writer Ahi Karunaharan’s (My Heart Goes Thaddak Thaddak, The Mourning After) tale sweeps from 1950s Sri Lanka to modern-day Aotearoa. Directed by Jane Yonge (Scenes from a Yellow Peril) this is both a love letter to Sri Lanka and a lament, the story plays out over 17 songs – ranging from Dusty Springfield to La Bamba to the hit single from a Tamil rom-com.
A collaboration between Agaram Productions, Auckland Theatre Company and Te Ahurei Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Arts Festival.
Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express
Adapted for the stage by Ken Ludwig
22 Apr – 10 May
One murder, eight suspects, and a wild ride that’s about to go off the rails. The classic that birthed an entire genre comes to the stage in the second show of the year. Cameron Rhodes (King Lear, North by Northwest) plays the inscrutable Hercule Poirot in Agatha Christie’s iconic whodunnit, supported by a killer cast including Rima Te Wiata, Sophie Henderson, Ryan O’Kane and Mayen Mehta. This play was cleverly adapted for the stage by Tony-nominated playwright Ken Ludwig and is directed by Auckland theatre directing legend Shane Bosher.
Roger Hall’s End of Summer Time
17 Jun – 5 Jul
New Zealand’s most successful playwright Sir Roger Hall brings back one of his most famous characters, Dickie Hart who made his first appearance almost 30 years ago in C’mon Black. This is an affectionate and hilarious skewering of an old grump who realises he still has a lot to learn about the world when he moves to Auckland to be closer to his grandkids. Directed by theatre stalwart Alison Quigan, audience favourite Andrew Grainger (Peter Pan, North by Northwest) brings his big-hearted comedic talent to this entertaining solo show that like, all of Hall’s plays, has more than a little bite to it.
William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet
15 Jul – 9 Aug
William Shakespeare’s tale of passion and heartbreak is recast as a fast-paced thriller in this large-scale production of Romeo and Juliet, directed by the co-director of 2023’s runaway hit King Lear, Benjamin Kilby-Henson. Theo Dāvid (Shortland Street) and Phoebe McKellar (One Lane Bridge) make their Auckland Theatre Company debuts as the star-crossed lovers in a Missoni and Pucci-inspired take on 1960s’ Italy, supported by a stellar cast including Bronwyn Bradley, Miriama McDowell and Beatriz Romilly. As potent today as it was when written more than four centuries ago, this tragedy celebrates the triumph of love over hate – but at what cost?
MARY: The Birth of Frankenstein
by Jess Sayer
19 Aug – 7 Sep
A villa in Switzerland, in the dark winter of 1816. Mary Shelley stands over a bloodied corpse and knows her words are to blame. The script, written by award-winning playwright Jess Sayer in collaboration with Oliver Driver, builds on the bones of history to re-imagine the events of the infamous night that birthed one of the most famous novels of all time: Frankenstein. In Mary: The Birth of Frankenstein, co-created and directed by Oliver Driver (Amadeus), the production transforms from a parlour drama into an unsettling, drug-fueled, lust-drenched Gothic horror as Shelley, played by Olivia Tennet, casts off the men who seek to control her and steps from childhood into life.
TIRI: TE ARAROA WOMAN FAR WALKING
by Witi Ihimaera
4 – 23 Nov
The 2025 Season closes out with a history-making new adaptation of the epic tale of Tiri Mahana, a 185-year-old matriarch, from her birth at the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi to present day Aotearoa. For the first time, the play will be performed in two parts, English and te reo Māori, with both versions capturing the enduring spirit of Te Ao Māori. With the multi-award-winning team of The Haka Party Incident creator Katie Wolfe (Ngāti Mutunga, Ngāti Tama) and actor Miriama McDowell (Ngāti Hine, Ngāpuhi); Witi Ihimaera’s (Te Whanau a Kai and Ngāti Porou) extraordinary play will shine once again, re-imagined in te reo Māori by Maioha Allen and company.
