No one with a half decent tour manager crosses the globe to our little island nation in winter, which means over the coming months there’s a preposterous stream of big names touching down, including Priscilla Presley, Oprah Winfrey, Doja Cat, Cliff Richard, Teddy Swims, and Lenny Kravitz – none of whom we’ve included in this month’s Culture Compass. We’re leaning local this month, with a collection of arts and culture happenings that are mostly home-brewed with a couple of exceptions just for laughs.
Culture Compass
25th September, 2025No one with a half decent tour manager crosses the globe to our little island nation in winter, which means over the coming months there’s a preposterous stream of big names touching down, including Priscilla Presley, Oprah Winfrey, Doja Cat, Cliff Richard, Teddy Swims, and Lenny Kravitz – none of whom we’ve included in this month’s Culture Compass. We’re leaning local this month, with a collection of arts and culture happenings that are mostly home-brewed with a couple of exceptions just for laughs.Beyond the Luge and the Agrodome, the geysers and the redwoods, there’s a reason to plan a trip to the North Island’s biggest tourist town this November: Rotorua Festival of Gardens (November 14-16). Green thumbs, and anyone who enjoys looking at pretty things, will find much to delight in during the three-day biennial event. Some of the country’s most creative and skilled home gardeners participate in the festival, opening their properties for the public to admire. There are about 45 gardens in the programme with approximately half of them new to the festival this year. Three days of garden hopping through Rotorua sounds like a pretty idyllic way to spend a weekend.Eddie Izzard arrives in Aotearoa just after the Festival of Gardens, so no lolling around the sulphur city for her. Izzard, who goes by both Suzy and Eddie, is bringing The Remix Tour Live to Christchurch (November 21), Wellington (November 24) and Auckland (November 26). It’s quite a departure from Hamlet, which she’s been performing for almost two years. The Remix Tour is a kind of greatest hits show in which Izzard will tell some of her favourite stories from her 35-year comedy career – no doubt much of it improvised. It carries the delightful disclaimer: “This show may contain strong and imaginative language.”Another seasoned British comedian is landing on our shores in November: John Bishop. The Liverpuddlian is a decade shy of Izzard’s 35 years in comedy, but his tour, John Bishop: 25 Years of Stand Up, is an impressive milestone nonetheless. Possibly best known here for his appearances on The Graham Norton Show, you’re in safe hands with this charming, naturally funny comedian who’s performing in seven centres across the country.From two iconic British comedians to two legendary New Zealand musicians – Sir Dave Dobbyn and Andrew Fagan are both touring in November. Dobbyn will skip Tāmaki Makaurau this time, having already performed a sold-out Auckland Town Hall show earlier this year. He’s doing five dates of Selected Songs, starting in Wellington (October 31), followed by Napier (November 4), Palmerston North (November 5), Dunedin (November 7) and Christchurch (November 9). It’ll be a mammoth and memorable week-and-a-bit for the 68-year-old, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2022.The Mockers’ front man, Andrew Fagan, is undertaking a 20-show tour throughout the country with the romantically-named Passage of Time: Solo Songs and Stories from a Swirly World. As the name suggests, Fagan will be performing a mix of spoken word, storytelling and live music, including The Mockers hits, solo work, and new single Passage of Time. The tour starts in Invercargill and makes its way up to Whangārei throughout November.A rehabilitation centre might seem an uncomfortable setting for an improv show with the potential to veer into cringe-worthy stereotypes. But with Rehab, opening at Auckland’s Pumphouse Theatre next month, moving beyond stereotypes is exactly the point. Created by Elizabeth Cracroft and based on her lived experience of alcoholism and recovery, this is the seventh season of the dark comedy that aims to “destigmatise addiction and normalise recovery” through laughter. Cracroft knows firsthand that addiction can affect anyone, and the show has been known to motivate some audience members to seek help. Featuring a large and diverse cast, each of the four shows (October 22-25) will be completely unique.Finally, Aotearoa’s globally significant short film festival, Show Me Shorts, opens soon with 126 screenings of 83 short films at 40 venues throughout the motu. The Academy Award-qualifying festival became BAFTA-accredited last year as well, which means films selected for the festival become eligible for those major awards. This year, along with an incredible programme of local and international films, Show Me Shorts has partnered with Aotearoa’s filmmaker development initiative, Day One Shorts, to premiere the films from their 2025 cohort at Academy Cinemas in Auckland on October 11. The festival always artfully groups films together but the opening night sessions – Auckland October 7, Wellington and Christchurch October 9 – are probably the best way to see the most outstanding films in the programme in one go.