Ben Crowder is the co-director of Nightsong Theatre Company and co-director (with Carl Bland) of I Want To Be Happy which opens at Circa Theatre on 6 September. Starring Jennifer Ludlam and Joel Tobeck, I Want To Be Happy is the blackly funny story of a guinea pig called Binka and the lab assistant, Paul, who looks after her. Melding Nightsong's signature visual aesthetics with the preposterous premises of everyday life, this is a thought provoking exploration of both the human and guinea pig experience.

Ben took some time out of his exceptionally busy schedule to tell me all about his theatrical life.

Seminal Australian hip hop trio Hilltop Hoods are touring New Zealand for the first time in four years with sold-out gigs in Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch. The last time they were here they supported Eminem and played to audiences of over 46,000. This time around they'll be performing songs from their upcoming album, including their latest single, Laced Up. Joined by Tāmaki Makaurau rapper Freddy Reynold, this is a show not to be missed.

I had a chance to catch up with the guys before they hit our shores and had a chat with them about their 30-year career in music, and what they're most looking forward to in Aotearoa.

Justin is a playwright, director and founding partner of Indian Ink. With Jacob Rajan, their productions have won numerous awards including two Edinburgh Fringe Firsts and three Production of the Year Awards in New Zealand and they’ve become one of our most successful theatre companies. In his work outside Indian Ink, Justin has written seven professionally produced plays. He is a graduate of the John Bolton Theatre School. In 2008 he received a Kaupapa Oranga Award for his services to theatre.

Justin's new play, Dirty Work, will be performed at Soundings Theatre (Te Papa) 2-11 August. You can book tickets here.

About Dirty Work:

The computers are down and the big boss in India wants the impossible. A hapless middle manager, his unhelpful assistant and their chorus of office workers are making a mess of things. Which isn’t good news for the cleaner. Workplace hierarchies are shattered, class and culture clash and from the chaos emerges a different way to value one another.

Sharon Greally is a sound therapist whose business, Good Vibrations, helps stressed or unwell people re-tune their bodies and minds. Using vibration and frequencies, her treatments create a sense of harmony and balance in the body and mind. I met Sharon for coffee to talk about her journey to discovering sound therapy and what benefits this treatment can have.

Jerome Chandrahasen performed his first comedy gig in 2003. In 2004 he won the National Raw Comedy Quest. He has performed in the New Zealand Comedy Festival and in the Edinburgh Fringe as well as acting in every season of Wellington Paranormal. Since 2010 he has led the Humorous Arts Trust (AKA Wellington Comedy) which runs comedy gigs around the country, but with a focus on the capital, and are the organisation behind the Raw Comedy Quest.

I caught up with Jerome mid-way through the heats of this year's Raw Comedy Quest and asked a few questions about the business of being funny.



The Wellington RAW Comedy Quest heats run until 28 July in Te Auaha’s Tapere Iti theatre. Semi-finals will be held 3 and 10 August with the final on 17 August at San Fran. You can purchase tickets here.

The First Release Headliners for the 2023 Wellington Jazz Festival (25-29 October) have just been announced and are on sale now. I asked Creative Director Marnie Karmelita to share some insights on the exciting line-up.

Can't decide what to read over the over the long Matariki weekend? Not to worry, we asked our Writers Programme Co-Curators, Anne-Marie Te Whiu and Claire Mabey for their recommendations. Scroll down to check them out and add to your bedside book pile.

Anne and Claire also recommended this Maramataka wall planner for 2023-2024 which will help design your life using ancient Māori lunar knowledge to enhance your life in balance with nature.

Next week we celebrate Matariki and to find out more about what Matariki means, and how we should best observe it, I asked Tāwhiri's Pou Māori, Tama Ale Samoa.

Tama Ale Samoa (Taranaki, Ngā Ruahine) is Tāwhiri’s Pouārahi Māori. Tama’s role is focused on implementing Tāwhiri's Intercultural Policy across the organisation and its events and activities, supported by the Executive Director, Director Ngā Toi Māori and wider team.

Tama has over 10 years’ experience as a cultural adviser, teacher and translator including with Te Kāhui Tūroa, Lower Hutt City Council, Te Whare Maire o Tūhaereao and Paparākau Tuarua Kohanga Reo. Tama graduated from Te Panekiretanga o te reo Māori in 2017. He is the kaiako and kaikōrero for Te Kapa Haka o Te Ahi a Tahurangi, which won the Te Whanganui-a-Tara regional kapa haka competition in 2020 and competed at Te Matatini in 2022.

Nathan James Thomas is originally from New Zealand but left to travel 20,000 kilometres on the Greyhound Bus network in Australia when he was 17 years old. Over the next decade he lived in China, Spain, Poland, and Hungary, visiting and experiencing dozens of other countries along the way.

In 2014, Nathan founded the digital travel magazine Intrepid Times as a vehicle for sharing stories from the road and as an excuse to meet and interview his favorite writers. It has since grown into a thriving global community of thousands of writers and travellers. Nathan’s own travel writing has been published in places like Roads and Kingdoms and Outpost Magazine.

His latest book, Untethered, which delves into his life as a digital nomad, has just been released and I tracked him down in Poland to answer five questions about his life on the road.