First weekend of Spiegeltent shows cancelled due to global freight disruptions

Te Ahurei Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Arts Festival regrettably announces that the first four performances of Bernie Dieter’s Club Kabarett, set to play in the Spiegeltent in Aotea Square from Thursday 7 to Sunday 10 March, have been cancelled due to delays with the international shipping and, subsequently, the building of the Spiegeltent. The 17 remaining performances, from Tuesday 12 to Sunday 24 March, will continue as scheduled.

Originally scheduled to arrive with plenty of time to spare, the Spiegeltent was loaded on to a ship in Belgium many weeks ago, but was unfortunately re-routed away from the Suez Canal due to the global shipping disruption. The new route took the tent around Cape Horn, which sadly added weeks to the journey.

Te Ahurei Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Arts Festival CEO Robbie Macrae says, “Until last week, we were confident it would arrive on time, or at least with minimal disruption to our planned shows, but just yesterday a new arrival date was confirmed - Sunday 4 March - which meant getting the tent erected, and sets and performance infrastructure safely in place, in time to open four nights later, was untenable. Thus, we have been forced to cancel the first four performances in our season.

“Our amazing production and technical teams will be working around the clock to build the Spiegeltent and have it ready to open in the week of 11 March. We are so disappointed for all our ticketholders who have purchased tickets for the 7, 8, 9 and 10 March. They will be provided with a full refund and also an offer to rebook discounted tickets for another date in the season, which runs until 24 March.

“We apologise for the inconvenience and disruption that this causes but promise that the show will be absolutely worth the wait when Bernie Dieter and her misfit crew finally get to unleash their talents on Tāmaki Makaurau for a nearly two week season,” Macrae says.

Boot Scootin' Boogie (the barn-dancing spectacle led by Tom Sainsbury and Lara Fischel-Chisholm) and Te Manawa Te Kāhui Kōrero (a discussion led by artist, curator and creative Nigel Borell MNZM) which were also planned to take place in the Spiegeltent on Friday 8 and Saturday 9 March respectively, have been rescheduled. Boot Scootin' Boogie will now take place on Sunday 17 March at 1pm in the Spiegeltent, while a new location for Te Manawa Te Kāhui Kōrero is yet to be confirmed.

Macrae says, “We still have many other fantastic events in the Festival line-up, and we will continue as planned with our opening event Waiata Mai on Thursday 7 March. We’re looking forward to singing our hearts out to herald the opening of the festival and then warmly welcoming the Bernie Dieter’s Club Kabarett performers and opening the beloved Spiegeltent a few days later.”

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Images: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/xvxftihwpf1zuduq6dyjm/h?rlkey=yt8beyotggufe01i0iwk1fnzm&dl=0

Media contact: Siobhan Waterhouse | siobhan.waterhouse@aaf.co.nz | 022 126 4149